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r ■ 







The Escape 
































































ONE COPY REC’D 

MAY 26 1898 

A RACE FOR LIFE 

(DYKE DARREL) 


/ BY 

A. F. PINKERTON 

M 


Copyright, 1886, by Laird & Lee 
Copyright, 1898, by Wm. H. Lee 



CHICAGO 

LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS 






















CHAPTER I. 

A STARTLING CRIME. 


l( £p"HE most audacious crime of my remembrance. ” 

1 Dyke Darrel flung down the morning paper, damp from the 
press, and began pacing the floor. 

“ What is it, Dyke? ” questioned the detective’s sister Nell, who 
at that moment thrust her head into the room. 

Nell was a pretty girl of twenty, with midnight hair and eyes, al¬ 
most in direct contrast with her brother, the famous detective, whose 
deeds of cunning and daring were the theme of press and people the 
wide West over. 

“ An express robbery,” returned Dyke, pausing in front of Nell 
and holding up the paper. 

“I am sorry,” uttered the girl, with a pout. “I shan’t have you 
with me for the week that I promised myself. I am always afraid 
something will happen every time you go out on the trail of a crim¬ 
inal, Dyke.” 

“And something usually does happen,” returned the detective, 
grimly. “ My last detective work did not pan out as I expected, but 
I do not consider that entirely off yet. It may be that the one who 
murdered Captain Osborne had a hand in this latest crime.” 

“ An express robbery, you say? ” 

“ And murder. ” 

“ And murder ! ” 

The young girl’s cheek blanched. 

“ Yes. The express messenger on the Central road was murdered 
last night, and booty to the amount of thirty thousand dollars 
secured. ” 

“ Terrible ! ” 

“ Yes, it is a bold piece of work, and will set the detectives on the 
trail.” 


6 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ Did you know the murdered messenger, Dyke? ” 

“ It was Arnold Nicholson. ° 

“ No? ” 

The girl reeled, and clutched the table at her side for support. The 
name uttered by her brother was that of a friend of the Darrels, a 
man of family, and one who had been in the employ of the express 
company for many years. 

No wonder Nell Darrel was shocked at learning the name"of the 
victim. 

“ You see how it is, Nell ? ” 

“ Yes,” returned the girl, recovering her self-possession. “ I meant 
to ask you to forego this man-hunt, but I see that it would be of no 
use.” 

“ Not the least, Nell,” returned Dyke, with a compression of the 
lips. “ I would hunt these scoundrels down without one cent reward. 
Nicholson was my friend, and a good one. He helped me once,.when 
to do so was of great inconvenience to himself. It is my duty to see 
that his cowardly assassins are brought to justice.” 

Even as Dyke Darrel uttered the last words a man ran up to the 
steps and opened the front door. 

“ I hope I don’t intrude,” he said, as he put his face into the room. 

“No; you are always welcome, Elliston,” cried Dyke, extending 
his hand. 

The new-comer accepted the proffered hand, then turned and 
smiled on Nell. He was a tall man, with smoothly-cut beard and a 
tinge of gray in his curling black hair. 

Harper Elliston was past thirty, and on the best of terms with Dyke 
Darrel and his sister, who considered him a very good friend. 

“ You have read the news? ” Elliston said, as his keen, black eyes 
rested on the paper that lay on the table. 

“ Yes,” returned the detective. “ It’s a most villainous affair.” 

“ One of the worst. ” 

“ I was never so shocked,” said Nell. “ Do you imagine the rob¬ 
bers will be captured, Mr. Elliston? ” 

“ Certainly, if your brother takes the trail, although I hope he will 
not.” 

“ Why do you hope so? ” questioned Dyke. 

“ My dear boy, it’s dangerous-” 

A low laugh cut short the further speech of Mr. Elliston. 

“ I supposed you knew me too well, Harper, to imagine that dan¬ 
ger ever deterred Dyke Darrel from doing his duty. ” 

“Of course; but this is a different case. ’Tis said that four men 
were engaged in the foal work, and that they belong to a league of 


A STARTLING CRIME. 


7 


desperate ruffians, as hard to deal with as ever the James and Younger 
brothers. Better leave it to the Chicago and St. Louis force, Dyke. 
I should hate to see you made the victim of these scoundrels.” 

Mr. Elliston laid his hand on the detective’s arm in a friendly way, 
and seemed deeply anxious. 

“Harper, are you aware that the murdered messenger was my 
friend? ” 

“ Was he?” 

“ Certainly. I would be less than human did I refuse to take the 
trail of his vile assassins. You make me blush when you insinuate 
that danger should deter me from doing my duty. ” 

“ I am not aware that I said such a thing, ” answered Elliston. “ I 
did not mean it if I did. It would please me to have you remain off 
this trail, however, Dyke. I will see to it that the best Chicago de¬ 
tectives are set to work ; that ought to satisfy you. ” 

“ And I sit with my hands folded meantime? ” 

A look of questioning surprise filled the eyes of Dyke Darrel, as he 
regarded Mr. Elliston. 

“ No. But you promised Nell to take her East this spring, to New 
York-” 

“ He did, but I forego that pleasure,” cried the girl, quickly. “I 
realize that Dyke has a duty to perform in Illinois. ” 

“And so you, too, side with your brother,” cried Mr. Elliston, 
forcing a laugh. “ In that case, I surrender at discretion. ” 

Dyke picked up and examined the paper once more. “ Died for 
DUTY. Bold and bloody crime at night on the Central Railroad. ” 
That was the heading to the article announcing the assassination of 
the express messenger. The train on which the deed had been com¬ 
mitted, had left Chicago at ten in the evening, and at one o’clock, 
when the train was halted at a station, the deed was discovered. 
Arnold Nicholson was found with his skull crushed and his body ter¬ 
ribly beaten, while, in the bloody hands of the dead, was clutched a 
tuft of red hair. This went to show that one of the messenger’s as¬ 
sailants was a man with florid locks. 

Leaving Nell and Mr. Elliston together, Dyke Darrel hastened to 
the station. He was aware that a train would pass in ten minutes, 
and he wished to enter Chicago and make an examination for himself. 
The detective’s home was on one of the many roads crossing Illinois, 
and entering the Garden City—[about an hour’s ride from the Goth¬ 
am of the West. 

In less than two hours after reading the notice of the crime on the 
midnight express, Dyke Darrel was in Chicago. He visited the body 
of the murdered messenger, and made a brief examination. It 


8 


DYKE DARREL. 


at once evident to Darrel, that Nicholson had made a desperate fight 
for life, but that he had been overpowered by a superior force. 

A reward of ten thousand dollars was already offered for the detec¬ 
tion and punishment of the outlaws. 

“ Poor Arnold 1 ” murmured Dyke Darrel, as he gazed at the bruised 
and battered corpse. “ I will not rest until the wicked demons who 
compassed this foul work meet with punishment! ” 

There were still several shreds of hair between the fingers of the 
dead, when Dyke Darrel made his examination, since the body had 
just arrived from the scene of the murder. 

The detective secured several of the hairs, believing they might help 
him in his future movements. Darrel made one discovery that he did 
not care to communicate to others; it was a secret that he hoped 
might lead to results in the future. What the discovery was, will be 
disclosed in the progress of our story. 

Soon after the body of the murdered messenger was removed to his 
home, from which the funeral was to take place. 

As Dyke Darrel was passing from the rooms of the undertaker, a 
hand fell on his shoulder. 

“ You are a detective ? ” 

Dyke Darrel looked into a smooth, boyish face, from which a pair 
of brown eyes glowed. 

“ What is it you wish ? ” Darrel demanded, bluntly. 

“ I wish to make a confidant of somebody. ” 

“ Well, go on. ” 

“ First tell me if you are a detective.” 

“ You may call me one. ” 

“ It’s about that poor fellow you’ve just been interviewing,” said the 
young stranger. “ I am Watson Wilks, and I was on the train, in the 
next car, when poor Nicholson was murdered. I was acting as brake- 
man at the time. Do you wish to hear what I can tell ? ” 


CHAPTER II. 

DYKE DARREL’S TRICK. 

<( ERTAINLY I do,” cried the detective. “ Come with me, and 

we will find a place where we can talk without danger of 
interruption. ” 

The two men moved swiftly down the street. At length Dyke 
Darrel entered a well-known restaurant on Randolph street, secured 
a private stall, and then bade Mr. Wilks proceed. Both men were 
seated at a small table. 


DYKE DARREL’S TRICK. 


9 


“Shan’t I order the wine?” 

“ No,” answered Dyke, with a frown. “We need clear brains for 
the work in hand. If you know aught of this monstrous crime, tell 
it at once.” 

“ I do know a considerable,” said Mr. Wilks. “ I was the first man 
who discovered Arnold Nicholson after he’d been shot. The safe was 
in the very car that I occupied. I saw the men get the swag. There 
were three of them. ” 

“ Go on. ” 

“ They all wore masks, so of course I could not tell who they]jwere; 
but I’ve an idea that they were from Chicago. ” 

“ Why have you such an idea ? ” 

“ Because I saw three suspicious chaps get on at Twenty-second 
•treet. I think they are the chaps who killed poor Arnold, and got 
away with the money in the safe. ” 

“ Did you recognize them? ” 

“ No — that is, I’m not positive; but I think one of’m was a chap 
'hat is called Skinny Joe, a hard pet, who used to work in a saloon on 
Clark street.” 

“ Indeed.” 

“ Yes. It might be well to keep your eye out in that quarter.” 

“ It might,” admitted Dyke Darrel. “ This is all you know regard' 
big the midnight tragedy? ” 

“ Oh, no; I can give you more particulars.” 

“ Let’s have them, then. ” 

“ But see here, how am I to know that you are a detective? I 
might get sold, you know,” replied Mr. Wilks, in a suspicious tone. 

Dyke Darrel lifted the lapel of his coat, exposing a silver star. 

“ All right,” returned Mr. Wilks, with a nod. “ I’m of the opinion 
that Shinny Joe’s about the customer you need to look after, captain. 
I’ll go down with you to the fellow’s old haunts, and we’ll see what we 
can find.” 

Mr. Wilks seemed tremendously interested. Dyke Darrel was 
naturally suspicious, and he was not ready to swallow everything his 
companion said as law and gospel. Of course the large reward was a 
stimulant for men to be on the lookout for the midnight train robbers; 
and Mr. Wilks’ interest must be attributable to this. 

“ You see, I was Arnold Nicholson’s friend, and I’d go a long ways 
to see the scoundrels get their deserts who killed him, even if there 
was no reward in the case,” explained the brakeman suddenly- 

** Certainly,” answered Dyke Darrel, “ I can understand how one 
employed on the same train could take the deepest interest in such 
a sad affair. ” 


to 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ Will you go down on Clark street with me? * 

“ Not just now. ” 

“ When? ” 

“ I will meet you here this evening, and consult on that point. * 

“ Very well. Better take something. ” 

“ No; not now.” 

Dyke Darrel rose to his feet and turned to leave the stall. 

“ Don’t fail me now, sir. ” 

“ I will not. ” 

The detective walked out. The moment he was gone a change 
came over the countenance of the young brakeman. The pleasant 
look vanished, and one dark and wicked took its place. 

“ Go, Dyke Darrel; I am sharp enough to understand you. You 
distrust me; but you’re fooled all the same. It’s strange you’ve for¬ 
gotten the boy you sent to prison from St. Louis five years ago for 
passing counterfeit coin. I haven’t forgotten it; and, what is more, 
I mean to get even. ” 

Then, with a grating of even white teeth, Watson Wilks passed 
out. At the bar he paused long enough to toss off a glass of brandy, 
and then he went out upon the street. 

It was a raw April day, and the air cut like a knife. After glancing 
up and down the street Mr. Wilks moved away. On reaching Clark 
street he hurried along that thoroughfare toward the south. Arriving 
in a disreputable neighborhood, he entered the side door of a dingy 
brick building, and stood in the presence of a woman, who sat mend- 
ing a pair of old slippers by the light afforded by a narrow window. 

“ Madge Scarlet, I’ve found you alone, it seems.” 

“ I’m generally alone,” said the female, not offering to move. 

She was past the prime of life, and there were many crow’s feet on 
a face that had once been beautiful. Her dress was plain, and not 
the neatest. The room was small, and there were few articles of 
furniture on the uncarpeted floor. 

“ Madge, where are Nick and Sam ? ” 

“ I can't tell you.” 

“ Haven’t they been here to-day ? ” 

41 No, not in three days.” 

“ That seems strange. ” 

“ It doesn’t to me. They are out working the tramp dodge, in the 
country, or into some worse iniquity, Watson. I do wish you would 
quit such company, and try and behave yourself.” 

At this the young man gave vent to a sarcastic laugh. 

* Now, Aunt Madge, what an idea 1 Do you suppose your dear 


DYKE DARREL'S TRICK. 


II 


nephew could do anything wrong ? Aren’t I a pattern of per¬ 
fection ? ” 

Watson Wilks drew himself up and looked as solemn as an owl. 
This did not serve to bring a pleased expression to the woman’s face, 
however. As she said nothing, the young man proceeded: 

“ I’m working on the railroad now, Madge, and haven’t turned a 
dishonest penny in a long time. Of course you heard of the robbery 
of the midnight express down in the central part of the State last 
night? Some of the morning papers have an account of it.” 

“ I hadn’t heard.” 

“ Well, then, I will tell you about itand Mr. Wilks gave a brief 
account of the terrible tragedy that had shocked the land. “ It’s a 
regular Jesse James affair, and there’s a big reward offered for the 
outlaws. ” 

The woman seemed interested then, and looked hard at her 
nephew. 

“ Watson, I hope you know nothing of this work? ” 

** Of course I know something of it,” he answered quickly. “I 
returned in charge of the dead body of the messenger. I was in the 
next car when he was killed, and one of the robbers put his pistol to 
my head and threatened to blow my brains out if I said or did any¬ 
thing. You can just bet I kept mighty still.” 

“ I should think so. This ’ll make a tremendous stir,” returned 
the woman. “ The country ’ll be full of man-trackers and it’ll go 
hard with the outlaws if they’re captured.” 

“ You bet; but they won’t be captured.” 

“ You are confident? ” 

“ I’ve a right to be. I-” 

Then the young man ceased to speak suddenly, and his face be¬ 
came deeply suffused. 

The woman sprang up then and went to the young man’s side, lay¬ 
ing her hand on his shoulder. 

“ Watson, tell me truly that you don’t know who committed this 
crime. ” 

“ Bother! ” and he flung her hand from his shoulder with an impa¬ 
tient movement. “ I hope you ain’t going to turn good all to once, 
Madge Scarlet. I tell you, thirty thousand dollars ain’t to be 
sneezed at, and I do need money—but of course / don’t know a 
thing about who did it, of course not; but I can tell you one 
hing, old lady, Dyke Darrel is on the trail, and he is even now m 
t Chicago. ” 

“Dyke Darrel!” 

* That’s who, Madam, 


DYKE DARREL. 


f 2 

For some moments a silence fell over the two that was absolutely 
painful. At length the woman found her voice. 

“Dyke Darrel! Ah! fiend of Missouri, I have good cause to 
remember you and your work. Do you know, Watson, the fate of 
your poor uncle? ” 

“ Well, I should smile if I didn’t,” answered the young man. “ He 
died in a Missouri dungeon, sent there by this same Dyke Darrel, the 
railroad man-tracker. Hate him? Of course you do, but not as I 
do. I have sworn to have revenge for the five years I laid in a dun¬ 
geon for shoving the queer. ” 

“ And Dyke Darrel is now in Chicago? ” 

“ Yes. I oarted from him not an hour since. ” 

“ What is hv. -_ere for? ” 

“ The crime on the midnight express brings him here. * 

“ And you saw and talked with him? ” 

“I did.” 

“ He recognized you of course? ” 

“ No, he did not; that is the best of it. I am to meet him again 
to-night. It won’t be long before the man who sent Uncle Dan to a 
Missouri dungeon is in your presence, and you shall do with him as 
you like, Madge Scarlet.” 

“As I like? ” 

“ I have said it. ” 

“ Then Dyke Darrel shall die! ” 

“That’s the talk,” Madge. That sounds like your old self; I am 
glad you have come to your senses. If Nick and Sam come in. tell 
them to be in readiness to receive a visitor.” 

Then the young man turned on his heel and abruptly left the room. 
Just as the shades of night were falling Watson Wilks peered into 
the saloon and restaurant where he had parted from Dyke Darrel 
earlier in the day. 

He saw nothing of the detective. 

“ It is time he was here,” muttered the young man. “ Dyke Darrel 
is generally prompt in filling engagements. ” 

“ Always prompt, Martin Skidway / ” 

The young villain staggered back against the iron railing near, as 
though stricken a blow in the face. 

Unconsciously he had uttered his thoughts aloud, and the voice that 
uttered the reply , was hissed almost in his ear 
Dyke Darrel stood before him. 

The detective’s face wore a stern look, which was suddenly dis- 
•nrded for a smile. 

“ I am prompt in filling engagements,” said Darrel, after a momerj 


PROFESSOR DARLINGTON RUGGLES. 13 

“You see I have at last recognized you, and the walls of the prison 
from which you escaped shall again envelop you.” 

And then a sharp click was heard. The fraudulent brakeman held 
up his arms helplessly — they were safely secured with handcuffs I 


CHAPTER III. 

PROFESSOR DARLINGTON RUGGLES. 

I T would be hard to find a more completely astounded person than 
the one calling himself Watson Wilks at that moment. 

The noted detective had outwitted him completely. 

It was humiliating, to say the least. 

“ This is an outrage ! ” at length the young villain found voice to 
utter. “ I will call on the police for assistance if vou do not at once 
remove these bracelets. ” 

“ Do so if you like,” answered Dyke Darrel, coolly ; so icily in fact 
as to deter the young man from carrying out his threat. It might be 
that the detective would delight in turning him over to the Chicago 
police, a consummation [that the fellow dreaded more than aught 
else. 

“ Come with me, and make no trouble. You will do so, if you know 
when you are well off,” said Dyke Darrel significantly. 

And Wilks walked along peacefully, allowing the sleeves of his 
coat to hide the handcuffs. After going a few blocks, the detective 
hailed a hack, and pushing his prisoner before him, [entered and 
ordered the driver to make all speed for the Union depot. 

“ What does this mean? ” demanded the prisoner, with assumed 
indignation. 

“It means that you will take a trip South for your health, my 
friend. ” 

“To St. Louis? ” 

“ You have guessed it, Skidway.” 

A troubled look touched the face of the escaped prisoner. 

“ Why do you call me by that name, Dyke Darrel? ” 

“ Because that is your name. You have five years unexpired term 
yet to serve in the Missouri penitentiary, and I conceive it my duty to 
see that you keep the contract. ” 

“ A contract necessarily requires two parties. I never agreed to 
serve the State. ” 

“ Well, we won’t argue the point.” 

“ But I am in the employ of the railroad company, and will lose my 

place-” 



DYKE DARREL. 


*4 

"You gain another one, so"it doesn’t matter,” retorted the de¬ 
tective. "No use making a fuss, Mr. Skidway; you cannot evade 
the punishment which awaits you. Any confession you choose to 
make I am willing to hear. The late tragedy, for instance?,” 

" You’ll get nothing out of me.” 

“I am sorry,” 

" Of course you are. Did you recognize me when we first met?” 

" No. It was an afterthought. ” 

"I thought so. You shall suffer for this. You’ve got the wrong 
man, Mr. Darrel.” 

" You seem to know me.” 

" Everybody does. ” 

“ You flatter me.” 

" My name isn’t Skid way, but Wilks, and I can prove it.” 

"Do so.” 

" Release me and I will. ” 

» " I’m not that green. ” 

The prisoner muttered angrily. He realized that he was fairly 
caught, and that it was too late now to think of deceiving the famous 
detective. 

Dyke Darrel had recognized in the young man calling himself Wat¬ 
son Wilks an old offender, who had made his escap .rom the Mis¬ 
souri State prison three months before, and he at once surmised that 
the young counterfeiter, who was a hard case, might have had a hand 
in the murder and robbery of the express messenger. Reasoning 
thus, the detective decided upon promptly arresting the fellow before 
proceeding to search further. It would be safer to have Skidway in 
prison than at large in any event. 

More than one pair of eyes had watched the departure of Dyke 
Darrel and his prisoner from Chicago, and a little later a bearded 
man, with deep-set, twinkling eyes, and the general look of a hard 
pet, thrust his head into Madge Scarlet’s little room, and said : 

" It are all up with the kid, Mrs. Scarlet.” 

" What’s that you say? ” 

The woman came to her feet and confronted the new-comer with an 
interested look. 

" It’s all up with the kid. ” 

“ Come in, Nick Brower, and let me have a look at your face. I 
want no lies now,” cried the woman sharply; and the man drew him¬ 
self into a little room, and stood regarding the female with a grin. 

“Now let me hear what you’ve got to tell,” demanded Mrs. 
Scarlet. 

" It’s ther kid —— 


PROFESSOR DARLINGTON RUGGLES. 


<5 


“ Watson?” 

“ Yesum. ” 

“ Well, what has happened to him, man? Can’t you speak? ” 

“ He’s took.” 

“ Took ? ” 

“ Nabbed. Got the darbies on and gone South a wisitin’.” 

“ Do you mean to say that Watson has been arrested ? ” 

“I do, mam,” grunted Brower. “He’s well out of town, goirf 
South, and I reckin he’ll be in Jeffe’son City before we hear from him 
agin. I seed him a-goin’ with my own eyes. ” 

“ How did it happen? ” 

The man explained how young Skidway had been seized and taken 
on board the train by Dyke Darrel. 

“ You are sure his captor was Dyke Darrel ? ” 

“ I ain’t blind, I reckon,” growled the man. “ I heard sufficient to 
tell me that the detective was takin’ the kid back to Missoury, and 
that was enough for me.” 

“ Why did you permit it? ” 

A laugh answered the woman. 

“You might have saved the boy,” pursued Mrs. Scarlet, angrily. 
“ Now he will spend another five years in the dungeon where my poor 
man died of a broken heart. Watson told me that the infamous 
Dyke Darrel was in Chicago; but I had no thought of his recognizing 
the boy. Can you lend me some money, Nick ? ” 

“ A purty question, Madge. Don’t you know I’m always dead- 
broke? ” growled Brower. “What in the nation do you want with 
money any how?” 

“ I’m going to St. Louis.” 

« No?” 

“ I am. If Dyke Darrel puts my boy behind prison bars again, I 
will have no mercy. It’s life for life. I am tired of living, and am 
willing to die to revenge myself on that miserable detective.” 

Mrs. Scarlet began pacing the room. She was deeply moved, and 
tears of anger and sorrow glittered in her eyes. She was about to ut¬ 
ter a fierce tirade against the detective, when a step sounded without, 
followed immediately by three raps on the door 

“ Whist! ” exclaimed Brower. “ It is the Professor.” 

Madge Scarlet crossed the floor and admitted a visitor, a tall man 
with fire-red hair and beard, who was well clad and wore blue 
glasses. A plug hat, rather the worse for wear, was lifted and 
caressed tenderly with one arm as the gentleman bowed before Mrs, 
Scarlet. 

“I am pleased to find yod at home, Mrs. Scarlet,” 

Dyke Darrel 2. 


DYKE DARREL. 


<6 


** I seldom go out, Mr. Ruggles, or Professor Darlington Ruggles, 
I suppose.” 

“ Never mind the handle, madam. I see you have company.” 

The Professor turned a keen glance on Nick Brower as he spoke. 


CHAPTER IV. 


SCALPED. 


(( HE gentleman is a friend,” said Mrs. Scarlet. “ You need not 



1 fear to speak before him. ” 

“ I hain’t no wish to hear any private talk,” said Nick Brower, and 
with that he cast a keen, knowing look into the visitor’s face, and 
passed from the room. 

“ We’re alone, Professor.” 

“ So it seems. ” 

“ What news do you bring ? ” 

M Have you heard of the midnight express robbery? ” 

“I have.” 

“ And that Dyke Darrel is on the trail ? ” 

“ I have heard all that, and more,” said the woman. “ My nephew 
has been arrested and taken to Missouri by this same infamous Dyke 
Darrel. It was an awful blow to me; it leaves me entirely alone in 
the world. I am ready to do anything to compass the ruin of the 
detective who brought me to this. ” 

“ I am glad to hear you say it, madam. I came here for advice and 
help. I assure you that it is highly necessary for all of us that Dyke 
Darrel be removed. ” 

« Well? ” 

“ He might be enticed here, and quietly disposed of.” 

“ Will you entice him? ” 

“ I might; but-” 

“ Well ? ” as the man hesitated. * 

“ You see, I’ve got a place to fill in the world, and don’t want to 
mix with anything that’s unlawful,” and the Professor stroked his red 
beard in a solemn manner. 

“ Yet you would be glad to see Dyke Darrel dead ?” 

“ Hush, woman ! Walls have ears. You are imprudent. I have 
nothing against Mr. Darrel in particular, only he has injured my friends, 
and may be up to more of his tricks. Now, as regards Watson Wilks, 
you say Dyke Darrel has gone to Missouri with the boy in charge?” 

“ Yes, The last friend I had in th? world has been torn from me. 


SCALPED. I>7 

to languish in prison. I will have the detective’s heart’s blood for 
this,” cried the woman, with passionate vehemence. 

“ Of course,” agreed the Professor. “ But of what crime was the 
young man accused? Not the one on the midnight express, I hope?” 

The tall visitor bent eagerly forward then, and penetrated the woman 
with a keen gaze. 

“ No, no,” was the quick reply. “ I know that Martin had no hand 
in that.” 

“ Martin ? ” 

“ Watson, I mean,” corrected Mrs. Scarlet. “ I sometimes call the 
boy Martin, which is his middle name, so he has a right to it.” 

“Exactly. You know that the boy had nothing to do with the 
robbery last night. I don’t wish to argue or dispute with a lady, but 
I shall be compelled to question how you know so much. Will you 
answer? ” 

“ Because — because Martin is incapable of such work. I have read 
all about it in the papers, and am confident that it was the work of an 
organized band.” 

The Professor laughed until his white teeth gleamed in the lamp¬ 
light. 

“So sure!”he said. “You consider that nephew of yours a pat¬ 
tern of propriety. Is this the only reason you have for believing 
that Watson Wilks had no hand in the murder of Arnold Nicholson, 
and the rifling of the express company’s safe? ” 

“ I have another! ” 

“ WeH? ” 

“ He was in Chicago at the time the deed was done.” 

“ Can you prove this? ” 

Professor Ruggles seemed extremely eager, as he bent forward and 
touched the arm of Madge Scarlet with a white forefinger. 

“ I can prove it. ” 

“ Very good. It may never be necessary, but if the worst comes, 
you may be called on. I suppose you’re not in the best of circum¬ 
stances, Mrs. Scarlet? ” 

The Professor drew forth his wallet. 

“ I shall suffer, now that my boy is gone. ” 

“ Don’t fear that, madam,” returned Darlington Ruggles, as he 
laid a bank note for a large amount in her hand. Providence and 
your friends will take care of you. You have rendered me more than 
one good service, and I may call on you for more, soon, much sooner 
than you imagine. ” 

“ Anything I can do, Professor, will be gladly performed; ” was the 


DYKE DARREL. 


18 

woman’s answer, as she clutched the bank note eagerly, and thrust it 
from sight. 

Then Professor Ruggles turned to the door. Here he paused and 
faced the woman once more. 

“ Madge, what charge was your nephew arrested under? ” 

“ An old one. ” 

“ That is not an answer,” and the man frowned. 

“ The charge is for uttering counterfeit coin. I believe the boy was 
innocent, but there was money on the other side, and Martin was sent 
up for ten years; my husband for fifteen. My man died of a broken 
heart, being innocent, and Martin served five years and then escaped.” 

“ I understand. I don’t think the boy will ever serve out his 
time.” 

“ I hope he may not, but-” 

“ Keep a stout heart, Mrs. Scarlet. Influences are at work to free 
the boy. It will not do to permit him to languish in prison. 1 tell 
you Providence is on your side. ” 

Then Mr. Darlington Ruggles passed from the room. 

“ Strange man,” muttered the woman, after he had gone. u He is 
a mystery. Sometimes I imagine he is not what he seems, but a de¬ 
tective. I hope I have given nothing away, for I find it won’t do to 
trust anybody these days. ” 

In the meantime Professor Darlington Ruggles made his way to 
another part of the city, not far from the river, and met a man in a 
dingy basement room at the rear of a low doggery. 

Strange place for a learned professor, was it not? 

“ You’ve kept r.ie waiting awhile, boss.” 

The speaker was the man we have seen at Madge Scarlet’s— Nick 
Brower by name. 

“ I couldn’t get away sooner,” returned the professor. “ How does 
the land lay, Nat? ” 

“ In an ugly quarter. ” 

“ I feared so myself. The young chap that Dyke Darrel took to 
Missouri knows enough to hang you-” 

“And you, too, pard; don’t forget that,” retorted the grizzled 
villain grimly. 

“ I forget nothing,” said Mr. Ruggles, giving his plug hat a rub 
across his left arm. “It isn’t pleasant, to say the least, having matters 
turn out in this way. I wish to see you in regard to this Dyke Darrel. ” 

“I’m all ears, pard.” # 

“He must never see Chicago again.” 

“ Wal? ” 

“ I want you to see to it, Nick.” 


SCALPED. 


*9 

“ I don’t know about that,” muttered the grosser villain. I’ve shed 
’bout enough blood, I reckin. ” 

“ It is for your own safety that I speak, Nick. No trace of that 
last work can ever reach me.” 

“ Don’t be too sure, Dari Ruggles. With Dyke Darrel on the 
trail, there’s no knowing where it’ll end. He’s unearthed some o’ the 
darkest work ever did in Chicago an’ St. Louis. I would breathe a 
dum sight more comfortable like if Dyke Darrel was under the sod.” 

“ So would others. ” 

“ Yourself, fur instance. ” 

" I won’t deny it, Nick. I don’t feel very comfortable with the 
young detective free. Between you and me, Nick, I believe we can 
make this the last trail Dyke Darrel ever follows. A thousand dollars 
to the man who takes the detective’s scalp. That is worth winning, 
Nick.” 

. “ Put ’er thar, pard.” 

Nick Brower held out his huge hand and clasped the small white 
«5ne of the Professor 

“I’llwin that thousan’ or go beggin’ the rest o’ my days, Dari 
Ruggles.” 

“ I hope you may. You’d best take the next train for the South¬ 
west. I won’t be far behind. ” 

And then the two separated. 

A little later Professor Darlington Ruggles stood on the dock over¬ 
looking the river and the shipping. Although yet early in the season 
the big lake was open, and several vessels laden with lumber had 
entered the river from various ports on the Eastern shore during the 
day. 

A tug lay on the further side, and a schooner with bare spars loomed 
up in the moonlight. 

“ This open sewer has witnessed more than one crime, ” mused the 
Professor. “ I would like it if that infernal Dyke Darrel was at the 
bottom of the river. He has taken into his head to hunt down the 
men who killed Arnold Nicholson, and if there’s a man east of the Mis¬ 
sissippi who can ferret out this crime, Dyke Darrel is the one. But I 
don’t mean to permit him to do anything of the kind if I know myself. 
It’s a fight between the detective and as sharp a man as any detective 
that ever lived. I imagine — hello! who is this? ” 

The last exclamation was caused by the sudden appearance of a dark 
form coming up over the dock as if from the water. A moment later 
a man paused within six feet of Professor Ruggles, and penetrated 
him with a pair of glittering eyes. 

“ What do you want? ” 


ao 


DYKE DARREL. 


It was the Professor who uttered the word, at the same time reced- 
ing a step or two, for the stranger’s glance startled him considerably. 
“ Who are you? ” demanded the stranger, shortly. 

“It does not concern you. ” 

“ Don’t it? We’ll see about that.” 

An arm shot forward. The Professor’s plug fell to the ground, and 
the next instant a red wxg was swung aloft in the moonlight. 

“ Ha! I thought so. You are the man I seek—” 

The speaker’s word’- were cut off suddenly. 


CHAPTER V. 


ELLISTON’S REBUFF. 


MAD cry fell from the lips of the Professor when he felt him. 

JTv unceremoniously scalped. The next instant his right hand 
drew forth a gleaming knife. 

“Oh! Ah! Murder /” 

A dark form went backward over the dock; a splash followed, and 
the Professor stood alone. He peered into the muddy water to note 
the fact that it flowed on calmly as before. 

Then Rugg ! <es picked up his hat and wig, and readjusted them on 
his head. 

“ My soul! that was a narrow escape. ” 

At this moment another form was seen approaching, and the Pro¬ 
fessor, deeming it prudent to move away, was soon striding from the 
spot, his tafl form disappearing in the shadows before the third person 
reached the edge of the dock. 


On the day following the events last narrated, a man ran up the 
teps at the Darrel cottage in Woodburg, and rang the bell. 

Nell answered, and met the gentlemanly Mr. Elliston. She led 
the w*y at once to a room opening from the hall, where preparations 
had been made for a lunch. 

“Where is Dyke?” questioned the gentleman the moment he 
wa? seated. 

“ I haven’t seen him since he left for Chicago to look into the 
express robbery,” returned Nell. “ Haven’t you met him? ” 

“ No.. Strange he did not write if he meant to be gone long,” 
r marked Elliston. “ You were about to dine, I see. ” 

“ Yes; will you keep me company?” 

“ With pleasure.” 





N* 

























































































































22 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ I thought Dyke would be with me ere this,” proceeded Nell, as 
they discussed the edibles. “ When he goes for a long Stay she 
usually drops me a line.” 

After the lunch, Mr. Elliston left his chair and crossed the room to 
glance from the window, at the same time plucking at his short beard 
in an apparently nervous manner. 

Nell was on the point of removing the ware from the table, when 
Mr. Elliston turned suddenly, and resumed his seat at the table. 

“ Sit down, Nell, I wish a word with you,” 

The girl sank once more into - chair, wondering what was com - 
ing. 

Laying both hands on her shoulders, Harper Elliston looked her in 
the eyes and said: 

“You must have guessed the object of my visit to-day, Nellie 
Darrel. ” 

She blushed under his gaze, and looked away nervously. 

“ N — oo, I can’t say that I do. I suppose you came to see 
my brother.” 

“ Not so. It is you I wished to see, NelL Why have I come here 
so often? I know you must have guessed before this. I love you, 
dear girl, and want you to be mine-” 

He could say no more then, for Nell Darrel started sharply to her 
feet, pressing her hands to her burning face. 

“ No, no, not that.” she murmured. “ I never suspected that, Mr. 
Elliston. ” 

“ But listen to me, Nell,” he pleaded, reaching up and attempting 
to draw her hands aside. I can give you a handsome home in New 
York. If you will be my wife, I will return there at once.” 

She tore herself from his hands, and her confusion vanished, a feel¬ 
ing of indignation taking its place. 

“ Mr. Elliston, I tell you I do not love you, and’ never can. I was 
never more surprised in my life than now. You are old enough to be 
my father, sir.” 

He came to his feet also, and leaned with his hands clinching the 
top of a chair. There was a frown on his brow and a glitter in his 
black eyes unpleasant to see. 

“ Must I call you coquette? ” he said, in an undertone of concen¬ 
trated feeling. “ You certainly have encouraged me. ” 

“ Never, sir,” was the indignant response. 

“Then our paths must lie apart hereafter, I suppose, Miss 
Darrel? ” 

“ That is as you shall determine,” she answered. “ As my brother’s 
friend, I have tolerated you, and can do so in the future.” 


elliston’s rebuff. 


23 


K Ah! It was only toleration then. I did not think this of you, 
Nell Darrel. Do you know that many of the wealthiest, most 
beautiful maidens of Gotham would jump at the offer you have just 
spurned so lightly? ” 

“ I will not deny it. ” 

“ I could have long ago taken a partner to share my life in my 
elegant home on Fifth avenue, but do you know the reason 01 mv not 
doing so? I can tell you. I had not seen a girl to my taste. Until 
I came West I believed I should never marry. From the moment of 
meeting you, however, I changed my mind. To see was to love, 
and-” 

“ Please cease, Mr. Elliston,” pleaded Nell Darrel, putting out 
her hand deprecatingly. “This is a most painful subject to me.” 

“ Very well.” 

With a sigh he crossed the floor and stood by the window once 
more. He seemed struggling to keep down his emotions. At that 
moment the detective’s sister pitied the man, and felt really sorry that 
she had unintentionally been the means of making him miserable. 

“ Mr. Elliston, please do not feel so badly. I respect you, and 
hope we may ever be friends. ” 

She approached him and held out her hand. He turned and 
regarded her with a queer glow in his eyes. 

« X accept your proffer of continued friendship,” he said with a 
forced smile. It is better so than open war between us.” 

« It would avail nothing to make war on a friend,” she said simply. 
«I respect you very highly, Mr. Elliston, and as Dyke’s friend, shall 
always hope to retain your good opinion. ” 

« Whatever may happen, you w’ill have that,” he returned. 

Soon after the gentleman departed. The moment he was gone 
Nell Darrel sank to a chair, and, bowing her head on the table, began 
to cry. 

Strange proceeding, was it not, after what had taken place? 
Women are enigmas that man, after ages of study, has been unable 
to solve. 

Another face came before the girl’s mind at that moment, the face 
of one to whom her heart had been given in the past, and who, for 
some unaccountable reason, had failed to put in an appearance or 
write during the past six months. 

f « jf Harry were only here,” murmured the girl, as she raised her 
head and wiped the tears from her pretty eyes. “ I know something 
has happened to him — something terrible.” 

At this moment Aunt Jule, the colored housekeeper, the only other 


24 


DYKE DARREL. 


resident of the cottage, aside from Nell Darrel and her brother, entered 
the room, and her appearance at once put an end to Nell’s weeping. 

“ Marse Elliston done gone. What did he want, honey? ” 

“ To see Dyke,” answered Nell, with a slight twinge at uttering 
such a monstrous falsehood. 

“ Marse Dyke don’t come yet. ’Deed but he’s full of business dese 
times. Marse Dyke a great man, honey.” 

If the old negress noticed traces of tears on the face of her young 
mistress, she was sharp enough to keep the discovery to herself. 

In the meantime, Mr. Elliston made his way to the principal hotel 
in the little city and sought his room. He was a regular boarder, 
but, like other men of leisure, he was not regularly at meals or 
room. Nevertheless, he paid his board promptly, and that was the 
desideratum with the landlord. 

The man’s teeth gleamed above his short, gray-streaked beard, as 
he sat down and meditated on the situation. 

“ So, I can be her friend still. Well, that is something. I don’t * 
mean to give up so. Dark clouds are gathering over your life, Nell 
Darrel, and when the blackest shadow of the storm bends above and 
howls about you, in that hour you may conclude that even an elderly 
gentleman like myself will do. ” 

Again the man’s teeth gleamed and the black eyes glittered. 

“ I have set my heart on winning that girl. A mock marriage will 
do as well as anything, and such beauty and freshness will bring 
money in New York.” 

Harper Elliston' remained in his room until a late hour. After the 
shades of evening fell he left the room and hotel with a small grip in 
his hand. He turned his steps in the direction of the railway station. 
Arrived at the d£pot, he purchased a ticket for St. Louis. Then he 
sauntered outside and stood leaning against the depot in a shaded 
spot. 

It would be five minutes only until the departure of the train. 
There were troubled thoughts in the brain of Harper Elliston that 
night. 

A touch on his hand caused him to start. At thin fold of paper 
was passed into his palm. Turning quickly, Elliston saw a shadowy 
form disappear in the gloom. 

“ Confound it, who are you?” growled the tall man, angri.y. Then, 
remembering the paper, he went to a light, and opening it, held it up 
to his gaze. 

“ Harper Elliston: Go slow in your plot against Nell Darrel. 
She has a friend who will see that her enemies are punished. Beware! 
The volcano on which you tread is about to burst. ” 


DYKE DARRELLS DANGER. 


*5 

No name was signed to the paper. 

At this moment the express came thundering in ; the conductor’s 
u all aboard ” sounded, and, crunching the paper in his hands, Elliston 
had hardly time to spring on board ere the train went rushing away 
•oto the darkness. 


CHAPTER VI. 

DYKE DARREL’S DANGER. J 

M ARTIN SKIDWAY was an old offender, and through the 
efforts of Dyke Darrel he and his uncle had been detected 
in crime and sent to the Missouri State prison for a term of years. It 
was a mere accident that the detective came upon the escaped young 
counterfeiter, or rather it was through the young villain’s own fool¬ 
hardiness that he was again in durance vile. 

“ I will not serve my time out, you can .bet high on that,” asserted 
the young prisoner in a confident tone. 

Dyke Darrel more than half suspected that the young counterfeiter 
knew something of the late crime on the midnight express, and during 
the ride to St. Louis he did all that he could to worm a confession 
from the prisoner. 

“It is possible that you may get your freedom at an early day,” 
said the detective. “ I have heard of men turning State’s evidence, 
and profiting by it.” 

“ I suppose so. ” 

“ I would advise you to think on this, Martin Skidway. ” 

“ Why should I think on it? Do you think I’m a fool, Dyke 
Darrel? ” 

“Not quite,” and the detective smiled. “ I know you have been 
pretty sharp, young man, but not keen enough to escape punishment. 
You have five years yet to serve, at the end of which time you may 
be arrested and hung for another crime. ” 

“ You are giving me wind now.” 

“I am not. A terrible crime was committed four and twenty 
hours since, and on this road; a midnight crime that the whole coun¬ 
try will work to punish. It will we impossible for the express rob¬ 
bers to escape. ” 

“ You are a braggart! ” 

“ I do not say that / will be the one to bring these villains to jus¬ 
tice, but I do say that justice will be done, and I expect to see the 
murderers of Arnold Nicholson hung.” 



26 


DYKE DARREL. 


The keen eyes of Dyke Darrel fixed themselves on the face of his 
prisoner, with a penetrating sharpness that fairly made the fellow 
squirm in his seat. On more than one occasion had the railroad 
detective brought confession from the lips of guilt, through the mag¬ 
netism of his terrible glance. 

He tried his powers on the man at his side, and found him yielding 
to the pressure, when Skidway suddenly turned his face to the window, 
and refused to encounter the gaze of his captor. 

By this means he was able to defy the magnetic powers of the 
detective. 

“ Martin Skidway, you may as well admit that you know something 
of this latest villainy. Even if you were not connected with it, you 
know who was? ” 

The prisoner remained silent. 

Dyke Darrel proceeded: 

“ You said that you were a brakeman on the train on which poor 
Nicholson found his death. Was that the truth? ” 

«It was.” 

“ It is now for your own good that you make confession, Martin 
Skid way! ” 

“ I’ve nothing to confess. ” 

«Be careful!” 

“You can’t scare me into telling a lie,” said the prisoner, with an 
assumption of bravado that he did not feel. “ I don’t know anything 
about the express robbers, only what I’ve told you; you can make 
the most of that. ” 

“ I mean to do so,” assured Dyke Darrel. “ I shall not leave the 
trail until the perpetrators of that crime are secured and punished. In 
that day you may wish that you had not been so obstinate. ” 

“ I have told all I know. ” 

“ I hope you have! ” 

“ You believe I am lying, Dyke Darrel? ” 

“ It doesn’t matter what I believe,” retorted the detective. “ Of 
course, you are not of the sort who believe in telling facts when a 
falsehood will serve you better. I did not expect anything different.” 

Arrived at the Southwestern metropolis, Dyke Darrel turned his 
prisoner over to the proper officers, warning them of the dangerous 
nature of young Skidway, and then he turned his thoughts and feet 
in another channel. 

Dyke Darrel went to the office of the railroad company on whose 
road the m ; ^night crime had been committed, and consulted with one 
of the officers in regard to the same. 


dyke darrel’s danger. 


27 


u It is a terrible affair,” said Mr. Holden, the officer in question. I 
telegraphed our folks in Chicago to employ detectives in that city, and 
expect to have the best talent in the country look into this.” 

“Of course. Any clew discovered ? ” 

“ None.” 

“ I believe the villains covered their tracks well, ” said Dyke Darrel. 
** The express messenger who was murdered was a personal friend.” 

“ Your friend ? ” 

“Yes; one I had known for years, which explains my interest in the 
case. I suppose I have your good wishes in hunting down the out¬ 
laws?” 

“ Well, of course ; but it is a task that may tax the coolness and 
ingenuity of skilled detectives. Amateurs have no place on this case, 
I assure you. ” 

“ Admitted, ” returned the young detective, with a smile. “ You have 
heard of Dyke Darrel ? ” 

“ I should think I had. He is the best detective in the West, now 
that Pinkerton is gone; he was a trusted friend of Allan Pinkerton, 
too.” 

“ He was. ” 

“ I’ve telegraphed for our people to see about employing Dyke 
Darrel. I shan’t be content without.” 

Again a smile swept the face of the young detective. 

“ It seems that you never met Dyke Darrel, Mr. Holden. ” 

“ Never; but-” 

“ You see him now at any rate.” 

« What ? ” 

“I am Dyke Darrel.” 

“You?" 

“ The same.” 

“ Dyke Darrel, the railroad detective; the fellow who captured th* 
brute Crogan, and broke up the counterfeiters’ nest near Iron Mourn 
tain; the man who has sent more criminals over the road than any other 
detective in the wide West — you ? ” 

« The same, at your service,” and Darrel bowed and smiled again. 

“ Well, I am astonished.” 

Nevertheless the incredulous railway official seemed pleased at the 
last, and shook the young detectiye warmly by the hand. 

« I am glad to meet you, Mr. Darrel, and hope we can induce you 
to take up this case. A great many suspects have been reported, but 
I take stock in none of them. I trust the whole affair (the manage¬ 
ment of it, I mean) to you. Will you go into it, Mr. Darrel? ” 

“ Certainly.” 


DYKE DARREL. 


2 $ 

Some time longer the detective and official talked, and the lamps in 
the streets were lit when Dyke Darrel left the presence of Mr. Holden, 
and turned his steps toward a hotel 

“I must send a line to Nell,” mused the detective, as he moved 
along. “ I shall remain a short time in St. Louis, as I may pick up 
some points here that will be of use to me. I am of the opinion that 
either this city or Chicago holds the perpetrators of this latest railroad 
crime. 

The detective did not see the shadowy form flitting along not far 
behind. A man had shadowed the detective since his departure from 
the railway office. Dyke Darrel, in order to make a short cut, had 
entered a narrow street, where the lights were few and the buildings 
dingy and of a mean order. 

Moving on, deeply wrapped in thought, the detective permitted his 
“ shadow ” to steal upon him, and just as Dyke Darrel came opposite 
a narrow alley, the shadow sprang forward and dealt him a stunning 
blow on the head. 

The detective reeled, but did not fall. Partially stunned, he turned 
upon his assailant, only to meet the gleam of cold steel as a knife 
descended into his bosom! 


CHAPTER VII. 

WHAT A HANDKERCHIEF REVEALED. 

D YKE DARREL was so dazed from the blow he had received as 
to be unable to ward off the dirk that was thrust at his bosom 
by the vile assassin, and had not a third party appeared on the scene 
at this critical moment the story we are now writing would never 
have been told. 

A kind Providence had on more than one occasion favored the 
daring railroad detective. 

Before the point of the knife t ouched the breast of Dyke Darrel, a 
swift-flying object sent the deadly weapon out into the middle of the 
street. 

The next instant a man bounded from the shadow of a building 
upon the would-be assassin. There was a short struggle, when the 
last comer found, that instead of the detective’s assailant, he held a 
coat in his hands. 

The villain had made good his escape. 

“ Confound you! ” greeted the new comer. 

* Who was it?” 



WKAff A HANDKERCHIEF REVEALED. 


2 9 


“ I saw him following you, sir, and made up my mind that some 
villainy was in the wind. I do not know who the villain was. Are 
you hurt? ” 

“ Not in the least.” 

Then the two men walked on until a lamp-post was gained. Here 
the features of each were plainly revealed. 

A low exclamation fell from the lips of Dyke Darrel. 

“ Good thunder, Harry Bernard! how are you ? Where in the 
world did you spring from ? ” 

The detective grasped and wrung the man’s hand warmly — a rather 
slender young fellow, with brown hair and eyes, a mustache being the 
only sign of beard on his face. 

“ One question at a time, Dyke,” returned the young man with a 
laugh. “ I mistrusted it was you all the time. It strikes me that you 
are becoming careless in your old age. Hope you’re not in love — 
that makes a fool of a man sometimes? ” 

“Does it? No, I’m not in any such predicament; fact is, I am 
wedded to my profession and shall never marry. But, Harry, you 
haven’t answered my questions yet. ” 

“ You asked me how I get on; I can answer that by saying that 1 
was never better in my life. I have been across the plains, among 
cowboys and Indians, and it’s given me strong muscles and good 
health. I arrived in St. Louis this morning. It was the merest 
chance that placed me m a position to do you a service, Dyke. As I 
said before, it seems to me that you are getting careless. Just 
imagine what the result would have been had I not put in an appear¬ 
ance. I have the fellow’s coat to show for the adventure.” 

“ True enough. I admit that I was careless,” returned the detect¬ 
ive, “ and my adventure will serve to put me on my guard hereafter. 
Come with me to my room, Harry, and we will talk over matters in 
general. I must take the midnight express North, and may not see 
you again soon, unless you conclude to go on with me.” 

«I shall remain in St. Louis for the present,” returned young Ber¬ 
nard. 

He went with his friend to the hotel, however, and soon the two 
were in the privacy of Dyke Darrel’s room. 

“ Now, then, let us look at that coat.” 

Harry Bernard laid the garment down on the bed, and Darrel began 
a close examination of the same. It was an ordinary sack coat, with 
two inside pockets. The detective was not long in going through the 
pockets. 

“Ah!” 

The ejaculation was significant. 


3 ° 


DYK*2 DARREL. 


It fell from the lips of Dyke Darrel, the detective. 

“ Now what? ” questioned Bernard. 

“ Look at that. ” 

Dyke Darrel held aloft a handkerchief that had once been white, 
but which was now dingy with dirt. But this was not the only dis¬ 
coloration. There was a stain on the square bit of linen that was 
significant. 

“ What is it? ” 

“ Blood ! ” answered Dyke Darrel. 

Then the detective made a close examination, and made still another 
discovery —a name in one corner of the rumpled handkerchief. 

The keen eyes of the detective gleamed with a satisfied light. 

“ What have you discovered, Dyke? ” 

“A clew.” \ 

“ To what? ” * 

“To the most infamous crime of the century. This handkerchief 
has the name of its owner stamped plainly in the corner. 

“ Well? ” 

“ Arnold Nicholson. ” 

« What? ” 

That is the name on this bit of linen, which shows that it was once 
the property of the murdered express messenger. Of course you have 
heard of the crime on the Central? ” 

“ Yes. It gave me a shock, too. Arnold was a good fellow.” 
Harry Bernard’s face wore a serious look as he took the blood¬ 
stained handkerchief from the hand of the detective, and examined it 
with mournful interest. 

“ It must be that you were assaulted by one of the train robbers, 
Dyke,” said the youth, as he returned the relic of that midnight 
crime. 

“ 1 imagine so. The scoundrels have discovered that I am on the 
trail, and they mean to put me out on the first base, if possible. Did 
you see the man’s face who assaulted me, Harry? ” 

“ Imperfectly. I know, however, that he had red hair. n 
“ Ah!” 

“ You suspected as much? ” 

“ Yes. In the dead man’s fingers was a bit of red hair. It seems 
conclusive that the villain who assaulted me to-night was the one who 
engaged in the death struggle with poor Nicholson. The trail is be¬ 
coming plain, and before the National holiday rolls round I hope to 
have the perpetrator of this crime behind prison h*rs.” 

“ I hope you are not over-sanguine, Dyke. ” 

“ I have ever been successful.” 


WHAT A HANDKERCHIEF REVEALED. 


3 i 


“ How about the Osborne case? ” 

“ Ah, yes; but that isn’t off yet. I expect that the murderers of 
the old captain will come to light about the time the railway crim¬ 
inals are brought to justice.” 

“Indeed.” 

“ There are several hands engaged in these bloody crimes, and when 
I do make a haul, it will be a wholesale one. ” 

“ I should think you would need help in a work of this kind.” 
“Ido.” 

“ Can I be of any service? You may command me, Dyke.” 

“ Thanks. You were of inestimable service to-night, and I believe 
you can do more. It would please me to have you remain in this city 
and keep an eye out, while I go up the road to the spot where the 
crime was committed.” 

“ You know the place? ” 

“ Certainly. It was near Black Hollow, a wild spot, where the 
woods along the creek afforded chance for hiding. Some of the ras¬ 
cals are yet in that vicinity, I believe. The one who assaulted me to¬ 
night may not remain in the city long. You will do as I wish? ” 

“ Certainly; glad to do it, Dyke.” 

“ That settles one point, then. If I need any more help I know 
where I can find it. ” 

« Where? ” 

“ Elliston. He is something of a detective, you know. ” 

Harry Bernard frowned at mention of that name. The pleasant 
look vanished from his face, and he relapsed into silence. 

Holding up the handkerchief, Dyke Darrel said: 

“ This was used by the assassin to wipe his bloody hands after the 
murder. He was a fool to keep the tell-tale linen by him; but these 
fellows are always leaving some loophole open. I have made one dis¬ 
covery that may have escaped your notice, Harry. ” 

“ What is that ? ” 

“ Look.” 

Laying the bloody handkerchief over the young man’s knee, Dyke 
Darrel pointed to a spot near the center, where the imprint of fingers 
was plainly visible. 

“ You see that? ” 

“ Certainly; the marks of human fingers, but I can’t see that you 
will be able to make anything out of that, so many hands are alike, 
you know.” 

Then Harry laid his own hand against the snot stained with blood. 

“ My hand fits exactly. ” 

Dyke Darrel 3. 


32 


DYKE DARREL. 


The eyes of Dyke Darrel began to dilate. His usually immobile 
features began to twitch, and a deadly pallor overspread all. 

What was it that had caught the eye of Dyke Darrel, to cause such 
terrible emotion? He had indeed made a discovery. 

A close examination of the finger-marks showed a white circle, 
centered with a ragged dot of blood near the knuckle; this had un¬ 
doubtedly been caused by a wart on the hand of the assassin. It was 
this fact that had attracted and interested Dyke Darrel, and what he 
intended showing his friend’ Harry Bernard. The moment Harry 
laid his hand against the print on the handkerchief the detective made 
a startling discovery. Not only did the hand of Harry Bernard fit 
the bloody stain exactly, but a large wart near the knuckle of the lit¬ 
tle finger fell exactly against the spot that dotted the center of the 
white circle. 

A feeling of unutterable horror filled the mind of Dyke Darrel at 
that moment. Harry Bernard had been his friend for years, and he 
had always found him upright and true. 

But what meant this horrible revelation of the handkerchief? 

Could it be possible that another had the same-sized hand and a 
wart near the knuckle of the little finger? It was not likely. 

Dyke Darrel came to his feet, with cold perspiration oozing out 
apon his brow. Before him sat Harry Bernard, smiling gently, and 
ft t he had a devil in his heart — the devil of assassinationl 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A PLUNGE TO DEATH. 

*p*OR some moments neither man spoke. Harry Bernard noticed 
that his friend was deeply moved, and he seemed to wonder at 
the cause. At length he said: 

“ Dyke, what is it? ” 

“Nothing, only-” 

“ Well, speak out,” as the detective hesitated. 

“ It is strange that your hand should so exactly fit the marks on the 
handkerchief, Harry.” 

“ WeU, yes,” admitted the youth; “I hope you didn’t imagine, 
however, that / had a hand in this railway robbery and murder? ” 

At the last Harry Bernard laughed lightly. Dyke Darrel did not 
seem to relish the young fellow’s lightness, and only frowned. 

“ This is not a laughing matter, Harry Bernard,” said the detective. 



A PLUNGE TO DEATH. 


33 

“ Well, I should say not. If you have a serious thought that I 
could do such a deed, Dyke, place me under arrest at once. ” 

There was an expression of rebuke on the face of Bernard as he 
uttered the last words. He did not look like a criminal, that was 
certain, and after a moment Dyke Darrel felt ashamed of his suspi¬ 
cions. 

“Never mind, Harry, I could not help feeling shocked. Let it 
pass; I will not wrong you by suspicion. But you will admit that it 
was a strange thing, your hand fitting so perfectly. ” 

“ Not at all. Put your own hand here,” returned Bernard. 

Dyke Darrel did so, but it was not so near a fit as Harry’s. It was 
not the size of the hand, but the imprint of the wart that had so 
startled the detective. Harry had not discovered the true cause of his 
friend’s excitement, and the detective concluded to say nothing about 
it then. 

Time was flying. The midnight express would soon leave the city. 

“ I cannot remain with you longer,” said Dyke Darrel, at length. 
“ I shall leave the case at this end of the route in your hands, Harry, 
and if at any time you wish to communicate with me, address me at 
Woodburg.” 

“ All right. What shall we do with this? ” 

Harry indicated the coat that still lay on the bed. 

“You may retain that, but I will keep the handkerchief. Both 
may be of use in the future. ” 

Soon after the two men separated. 

Dyke Darrel went at once to the d£pot, and soon after nine that 
evening he was speeding northward at the rate of forty miles an hour. 
At the first stop outside of the city three passengers boarded the train. 
One was a short, thick-set man, with beard and hair of a dark color; 
the others were women. The man entered the smoking car and thrust 
himself into an unoccupied seat, and glanced keenly about him. 

The man had no ticket, but paid the conductor to a station a 
hundred miles from the city. 

While sitting with his back to the aisle, a touch on the shoulder 
roused him. 

“ Eh, it’s you, Ruggles? ” 

“ Ahem — seat occupied? ” 

“ No.” 

The man we have met on a previous occasion. Professor Darlington 
Ruggles, settled himself beside the late comer. 

“ Ahem — fine evening. ” 

A grunt answered the Professor’s attempt to be sociable. At 
length, aiter casting a keen glance about the car, to find that but 


34 


DYKE DARREL. 


few passengers were present, and those of but little consequence, Pro 
fessor Ruggles said: 

“ He’s in the next car.” 

“ Yes. I’d like to get nay clutches onto him agin. ” 

“ You had him once? ” 

“ Yes, but he had help, and escaped. Do you imagine he’s on the 
trail?” 

“ Certainly,” answered Professor Ruggles. 

“ Then he’ll get off to-night.” 

“ I hope so ; but you must be cautious. ” 

“ Trust me for that.” 

“ Have you formulated a plan? ” 

“ None.” 

“ Then let me'help you.” 

“ I’ll be glad to do so. ” 

“ If we can get the fellow onto the platform the work will be easy* 
You understand, Sam?” 

“ I reckon.” 

“ Once he goes over nothing can save him. ” 

“ True, but how will we git the cuss outside? ” 

“ Easy’s preaching. I’ll go and introduce myself and get him to 
wait this car to try an excellent brand of cigars — see?” And the 
Professor chuckled audibly. 

“ I expect it’s easier said than done,” returned the thickset villain. 
“ Twixt you ’n me, Ruggles, Dyke Darrel’s cut his eye teeth, an’ he 
don’t walk into no traps with his eyes open, I can tell you that.” 

“ Well, we’ll see about it. I flatter myself that I’m sharper than 
any detective that ever lived. ” 

Then, adjusting his glasses, the sunset-haired Professor left his seat 
and walked down the aisle to the door. He came hurrying back with 
an interested, perhaps anxious look on his countenance. 

“Now’s your time, Sam,” whispered Professor Ruggles; “the fel¬ 
low ’s on the platform smoking!” 

This was fully two hours after the thickset man first stepped upon 
the train. He at once came to his feet, and sauntered in a careless 
manner to the door. The night was not dark, and the man could 
plainly see a dark form leaning against the end of the opposite car, a 
bright red gleam showing the end of his cigar. 

It was indeed Dyke Darrel, who had come out upon the platform 
to cool his heated brow and reflect on the situation, while he smoked 
a cigar for its soothing influence. 

He could not drive the bought of Harry Bernard and the train 
robbery from his mind. He remembered that the young man had 


WORDS ktiAT STARTLE. 


35 


left Woodburg suddenly the fall before, and nothing had been seen 
or heard from him by his friends since, until Dyke’s meeting him so 
strangely in St. Louis. It was barely possible that the assault and 
the rescue by young Bernard were part of a deep-laid plot. Dyke 
Darrel possessed a suspicious mind, and he could not reconcile ap¬ 
pearances with the innocence of young Harry Bernard. 

Deeply meditating, the detective scarcely noticed the opening of 
the car door opposite his position. His gaze, however, soon met the 
form of a man as he stepped across the narrow opening between the 
coaches. 

The detective was instantly on the alert. He was not to be caught 
napping, as he had been once before that night. 

The moment the stranger passed to his platform, Dyke Darrel 
faced him with a drawn revolver in his hand. 

“ Mr., I want a word with you.” 

Thus uttered the thick-set passenger, and then Dyke Darrel recog¬ 
nized the man who had boarded the train at the first station outside 
of St. Louis. 

“ What is it you want? ” demanded the detective shortly. 

“ This! » 

With the word, the man lunged forward. Divining his movement. 
Dyke Darrel sank suddenly to the) steps, and his assailant plunged 
headlong from the train! 


CHAPTER IX. 

WORDS THAT STARTLE. 

I T seemed a terrible plunge into eternity. Not for one moment 
did the detective lose his presence of mind, however. Stiaight- 
ening, he reached up and grasped the belhcord. 

Ere many seconds the train came to a stop. 

« Man on the track,” said Dyke Darrel when the conductor came 
hurrying to see what was the trouble. 

Lanterns were at once brought into requisition, and men went back 
to look for the body of the detective’s assailant. 

No one imagined that he could possibly plunge from the speeding 
train and escape death. Dyke Darrel moved along confidently expect¬ 
ing to look upon the bruised corpse of the outlaw who had attempted 
his destruction. 

He met with disappointment. 

No man was fourd. 



36 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ He must have been a tough one to have jumped the train without 
receiving a scratch, ” said a voice in the ear of the detective, as he 
flashed the rays of a lantern down on the track. 

Dyke Darrel glanced at the speaker, a gentleman with enormous 
red beard, and rather worn silk hat. 

This was the detective’s first introduction to Professor Ruggles. 

“ I’ve do doubt of his being tough,” answered Dyke Darrel. 

“ How did it happen? ” 

“ I think the fellow intended to throw me off the train.” 

“ Goodness! is that so? What was the trouble about? ” 

“ No trouble that I am aware of. I did not know the man.” 

“ Then it’s likely he mistook you for some one else. ” 

Dyke Darrel eyed the speaker keenly. There seemed to be nothing 
suspicious about the Professor, however, and soon after the detective 
dismissed him from his mind. 

“ All aboard! ” shouted the conductor, a little later, and soon the 
train was speeding northward at a rapid rate. 

Dyke Darrel went into the rear car, and sat down to meditate on 
his adventure. He realized that his death had been planned by ene¬ 
mies to law and order, and he believed by the ones who were anxious 
to throw him off the trail of the outlaws who perpetrated the crime 
on the midnight express a few nights before. 

It did not seem possible that the man who had attempted to throw 
him from the train, and had gone over himself, had escaped unharmed. 

Doubtless, though badly hurt, he had managed to drag himself 
away from the immediate vicinity of the track, where he had remained 
secreted until the brief search was over. 

Since his fall was unexpected, it was not likely that any of the vil¬ 
lain’s friends were in the vicinity, and so it might be an easy matter to 
trace the outlaw. Dyke Darrel formed a plan of operation at once, 
and rose to leave the train at the next stop. 

“ Do you get off here?” 

Dyke Darrel was somewhat surprised to see Harper Elliston on the 
platform of the little station. 

“ I stop here,” said Dyke. “ And you? ” 

“ I thought of going to Chicago.” 

a Postpone your trip then. I wish to consult with you on a matter 
importance.” 

Th* tall gentleman hesitated. 

'Has train be^an to move. 

“You must decide quickly,” cried the detective. 

ffllzston walked the length of the narrow platform*, with hU bo™? 


WORDS THAT STARTLE. 3 } 

on the car rail, his satchel in the other hand. His hand fell from the 
rail, and the express swept swiftly away in the darkness. 

“ Anything to accommodate, Dyke. I had some business of import- 
ance to transact in Chicago, but it can wait.” 

“ I am sorry if I put you to extra expense, Harper, but I wish to 
consult with one whom I can trust. I’ve got a devilish mean work on 
hand,” said Dyke Darrel in an explanatory tone. 

“ You know I am always ready to assist you, Dyke. Is it a crimi¬ 
nal case? ” 

“Yes; the last on record.” 

“ The express crime? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ I mistrusted as much. You have been down the road? ” 

“To St. Louis!” 

“ Exactly. ” 

“ I took a young offender down who escaped from prison last win¬ 
ter. I think the officers will look after him more closely in the 
future. ” 

“ Who was it? ” 

“ Martin Skidway.” 

“ I don’t call to mind the name, now.” 

Lights in the distance showed that the village contained one public- 
house at least. So there the two men repaired. 

Mr. Elliston quaffed a glass of wine, while the detective would take 
nothing but a cigar. Repairing to a room, the two men sat and con¬ 
versed for some time in the most confidential way. 

Dyke Darrel gave his friend an account of his adventure on the 
train, which had induced him to stop off and investigate. 

The reader may imagine that it was extremely indiscreet for the de¬ 
tective to give away his plans to Elliston, but Dyke Darrel had known 
this man for more than a year, had visited him in New York, and found 
him to be well thought of there, and he had more than once confided 
in him, to find him as true as steel. 

At this time the detective believed Elliston to be the best friend he 
had in the world. He knew the New Yorker to be a man of great 
ability and thoroughly acquainted with the world, and more than once 
he had done a good turn for Darrel. Why then should he not trust 
him? In fact. Dyke Darrel had noticed the growing interest Mr. 
Elliston took in his sister, and it pleaded him. Looking upon him as 
almost a brother, it is little wonder that Dyke Darrel took the man 
from Gotham into his confidence to a considerable extent. 

“ I think you did the right thing in leaving the tram to look after 
this villain,” said Elliston, when he had heard the detective’s story; 


38 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ but you must be aware that you run a great risk in going about the 
country without disguise, avowedly in search of the perpetrators of the 
express robbery. Of course, this man has friends, and they will not 
hesitate to shoot or stab, as they did in the case of the express mes¬ 
senger. ” 

“ Certainly-” 

“ But, my dear Dyke, had I not happened at the station you might 
have run into a trap. I have reason to believe there are many lawless 
characters in this neighborhood. It strikes me that the man knew 
what he was about when he assaulted you at this point on the road. ” 

To this, however, Dyke Darrel did not agree. He believed that 
the villain who attempted his murder sought the first favorable oppor¬ 
tunity for his fell work, regardless of time and place. 

Early the next morning the detective and his friend hired a horse 
and buggy of the hotel proprietor, and set off down the road to the 
scene of the “ accident. ” 

Dyke Darrel was confident that he could find the spot, and, sure 
enough, he was not far out in his reckoning. When in the vicinity of 
where he believed the man had left the train, Darrel’s quick eye caught 
sight of a group of men standing under a shed, on the further side of 
a distant field. 

“ There is some cause of excitement over yonder,” remarked Dyke 
Darrel, as he drew rein, and pointed with his whip. 

“ It seems to mean something,” admitted Elliston. 

“ I propose to investigate. ” 

Securing his horse, Dyke Darrel vaulted the fence, and, closely fol¬ 
lowed by Elliston, made his way across the field. 

A dozen men and boys stood about, regarding some object with 
commiserating glances. 

Dyke Darrel pushed his way into the crowd, and was not disap¬ 
pointed in what he saw — a man lying prostrate on some blankets, 
with white face and blood-stained garments. 

“We found him jest off the railroad, in a fence-comer,” said one of 
the countrymen. “ He’ll never git up an’ walk agin. ” 

n Has he said anything? ” 

This last question was put by Harper Elliston. 

M Nary word. He fell off ’n ther train last night, I reckon. ” 

Elliston knelt and felt the man’s pulse. 

* He Kves,” said the New Yorker, “ but there isn’t much life; he 
cannot last long.” 

** A little brandy might revive him,” said Dyke DarreL “ I would 
like to have him speak; it is of fche utmost importance. 


BLACK HOLLOW. 


39 


u Indeed it is,” cried Elliston. “ Where is tho .'task of brandy you 
brought from the train, Dyke? ” 

“ In the buggy. ” 

“ Send a man for it ” 

“ I will go myself; ” and Dyke Darrel set off at a rapid walk across 
the field. At the same moment the man on the blanket groaned and 
opened his eyes. 

“ How do you feel, my man? ” questioned Elliston. 

“I — I’m used up. ” 

“ It looks so. ” 

Elliston bent lower. 

“ You’re goin^ to die, Sam, sure’s shooting,” he said ir a whisper at 
the ear of the prostrate wretch. 

A groan was the only reply. 

“ Do you hear me, Sam? ” 

“Yes, I — I hear,” was the faint answer. 

Placing his lips to the ear of the man, Elliston continued to whis¬ 
per for some seconds. 

Soon the detective returned with a flask of brandy, which he at 
once placed to the lips of the bruised and helpless wreck. A few sips 
seemed to revive the man wonderfully. 

“ Tell me your name, my man,” questioned the detective, eagerly. 

“ Sam Swart. ” 

“ Do you realize your condition? You have but a few hours to live, 
and if you wish to free your mind, we will listen. ” 

Elliston stood at the man’s feet, facing him with folded arms, while 
the kneeling detective addressed himself to the apparently dying 
man. 

“ I haven’t nothing to tell.” 

« See here, Mr. Swart, it is better that you tell what you know 
Do justice for once, and it may be better with you in the hereafter. 
You attempted to murder me last night, and I believe you had a hand 
in the death of Arnold Nicholson and the robbery of the express.” 

«I — I did, but he coaxed me into it,” articulated the poor wretch 
in a husky voice. Elliston caught the words, and his cheek suddenly 
blanched. He was outwardly calm, however. 

Dyke Darrel bent low to catch the faint words of Swart. It was 
evident that the man was rapidly sinking, and the detective was ter» 
ribly anxous to get at the truth. 

« Speak ! ” he cried, hoarsely, “ who coaxed you to commit thf 
crime ? ” 

“ He did. The boy and — and Nick was with — with me. ” 

“ But who was the leader — the instigator of the foul deed? ” 


40 


DYKE DARREL. 


Close to the swollen lips of the dying man bent the ear of Dyke 
Darrel, every nerve on the alert to catch the faint reply. 

A name was uttered that caused Dyke Darrel to spring to his feet 
with a great cry. 


CHAPTER X. 


BLACK HOLLOW. 


set AAT was it?— who was it? ” cried Harper EUiston, seizing 

WJ the arm of Dyke Darrel, and penetrating him with a keen 
glance. 

“ It does not matter.” 

“It does. I have had a suspicion.” 

“ Well? ” 

“ He uttered the name of Harry Bernard. ” 

“ How could you guess that? ” 

“ Because I have felt it in my bones,” answered the tall New Yorker. 
“ Harry Bernard acted queerly before he left Woodburgthe last time, 
and I have since arrived at the conclusion that he was engaged in some 
unlawful work. ” 

“ Well, I never entertained such a suspicion,” was all the detective 
vouchsafed in reply. Then he glanced at the man on the ground. 

“ See, the fellow is dying. ” 

It was true. Sam Swart, the miserable outlaw, was swiftly passlnr 
away. Half an hour later, when Elliston and the detective returned 
to their buggy, the would-be murderer of Dyke Darrel lay cold in 
death under the farmer’s shed. 

A serious expression pervaded the face of Dyke Darrel, and he 
scarcely spoke during the drive back to town. 

“ Did you find your man? ” queried the landlord, when our friends 
returned. 

“Yes.” 

Elliston entered into an explanation, while Dyke Darrel went up to 
his room and threw himself into a chair in a thoughtful attitude. His 
brow became corrugated, and it was evident that the detective was 
enjoying a spell of the deepest perplexity. 

“ It must be that the fellow’s mind wandered,” mused Dyke Darrel. 
“ Of course I cannot accept as evidence the ragged, half-conscious ut¬ 
terances of a dying man. He spoke of Nick and the boy. There 
may be something in that. The boy? Who could that be but Mar¬ 
tin Skid way? I’ve suspected him; he is capable of anything in the 
criminal line. It may be well for me to go to Chicago and vkit 



BLACK HOLLOW. 


41 


Martin’s Aunt Scarlet. How that woman hates me, simply because 
I was the means of breaking up a gang of spurious money makers, 
of whom old Dan Scarlet was the chief. Well, well, the ways of the 
world are curious enough. By the way, I haven’t sent that line to 
Nell yet. The girl will feel worried if I don’t write. ” 

Then, drawing several postals from his pocket, Dyke Darrel wrote 
a few lines on one with a pencil, and addressed it to “ Miss Nell Dar¬ 
rel. Woodburg.” 

Just then Elliston entered. 

“ When does the next train pass, Harper?” 

“ In twenty minutes. Will you go on it to Chicago? ” 

“ Not to Chicago. I shall stop half a hundred miles this side, or 
more. I wish to do a little more investigating. ” 

“ Don’t you accept what the dying Swart said as true? ” 
u Not wholly.” 

“ Would a dying man be likely 1 1 utter a falsehood? ” 

“ I can’t say. What is your opinion? ” 

There was a peculiar look in the eyes of Dyke Darrel, as he put the 
question. 

“ I should think there could be no doubt on the subject.” 

“ Indeed ; then you consider that the last name that fell from the 
lips of Sam Swart was that of the man who instigated the wicked 
crime on the midnight express? ” 

“ Certainly, that is my opinion. ” 

Dyke Darrel drew out a cigar and lit it, his friend refusing to take 
one. 

“ I can’t feel so sanguine as you seem to, Harper. Will you go 
on? ” 

“ I shall go to Chicago. ” 

You do not care to remain with me'longer? ” 

Dyke Darrel regarded his friend closely through a cloud of smoke. 
“ You forget that I left urgent business to keep you company last 
night,” answered Mr. Elliston, a tinge of rebuke in his voice. 

“ I do not. You have my hearty thanks for your disinterested 
kindness, Harper,” returned Dyke Darrel. “ If the delay has cost 
you anything-” 

“ See here, old chum, don’t insult me,” cried Elliston, as the detect¬ 
ive drew out a well-filled wallet. “ I am able and willing to pay my 
own bills, I hope.” 

“ Certainly. I meant no offense. ” 

“ It is time we were on the move, Dyke, if we do not wish to miss 
the up train.” 

Dyke Darrel realized the force of his friend’s words, and at onca 


42 


DYKE DARREL. 


made preparations for departure. A little later the two were on 
board the morning express, speeding Northward. Dyke Darrel in¬ 
formed the conductor of the fate of Sam Swart, the outlaw, but did 
not intimate that the fellow was a member of the gang of train rob¬ 
bers, whose deed of blood had sent a shudder of horror and indigna¬ 
tion throughout,the nation. 

When the train halted at Black Hollow, the station at which the 
terrible crime of a few days previous had been discovered. Dyke 
Darrel arose to go. 

“ When shall I see you again, Dyke? ” questioned Mr. Elliston. 

“ I am not sure. I shall be in Woodburg next week.” 

“ I will see you there, then. ” 

“ Very well.” 

The detective left the train and stood alone on the|platform of the 
little station. There were not a dozen houses in sight, and it was not 
often that the express halted at this place. Here the daring deed of 
robbers had been discovered. It could not be far from here that the 
outlaws left the express car, doubtless springing off and escaping in 
the darkness as the train slowed up to the station. 

Not a soul in sight. 

Dyke Darrel entered the d£pdt, to see a man standing at the win¬ 
dow who had been watching the moving train as it rushed away on its 
northern course. 

“No public house here, sir,” said the man, who proved to be the 
railway agent, in answer to an inquiry from the detective. 

“ Then I must find some one who will keep me for a short time,” 
returned Dyke Darrel. “ I am looking for a location in which to 
open a gun-shop. ” 

“Guns would sell here, I reckon,” said Mr. Bragg. “I guess 
maybe I can accommodate you with a stopping-place for a day or 
two. ” 

“ Thanks. I will pay you well. ” 

“I’m not a shark,” answered the agent. “You see that brown 
house up yonder, in the edge of that grove? ” 

« Yes.” 

“That’s my place. I can’t go up just now; but you may tell my 
wife that I sent you, and it will be all right.” 

Dyke Darrel sauntered down past several dingy-looking dwellings 
until he came to the house of Mr. Bragg. It was really the most 
respectable dwelling in the place, which could not have been famous 
for its fine residences. 

The aspect about was not calculated to prepossess one in favor of 
thecouatey. Somehow, it seemed to the detective that Black Hollow 


POOR SIBYL. 


43 


was half a century behind the age. Mrs. Bragg was a shy, ungainly 
female, and not at all communicative. 

Darrel occupied the remainder of the day in exploring the country 
in the vicinity. A creek crossed the railroad and entered a deep 
gulch, the sides of which were lined with a dense growth of bushes. 

An ill-defined path led down the steep side of the gulch, and was 
lost to sight in the dense growth at the bottom. 

Dyke Darrel followed this path, and soon found himself in a dense 
wood that seemed to cover a strip of bottom land. Moving on, the 
deep shadows soon encompassed him on every side. 

A solemn stillness seemed to pervade the place, and a feeling of 
loneliness came over the detective. 

“ What a splendid place for secreting plunder, or hiding from 
officers of the law. ” 

It was almost dark ere the detective turned to retrace his steps. 
The narrow path grew indistinct, and it was only with the utmost 
difficulty that Dyke Darrel kept his course. 

The snapping of a dry twig suddenly startled him. 

This sound was followed almost instantly by the whip-like crack of 
a rifle. A stinging sensation on the cheek, together with the whistle 
of a deadly bullet, warned Dyke Darrel of a narrow escape. 


CHAPTER XI. 

POOR SIBYL ! 

I NSTANTLY the detective drew his revolver and sought shelter 
behind a tree. Then he gazed sharply in the direction from 
whence the sound of the rifle had come. 

A faint line of smoke in the distance alone met the gaze of Dyke 
Darrel. 

It was evident that some one had fired upon him with murderous 
intent. 

This was the belief of th 2 detective. 

« Somebody has dogged my steps; there can be no doubt about 
that,” answered Dyke Darrel. “ I was not wrong in my supposition 
that Black Hollow is the rendezvous of a gang of outlaws. I wish I 
had one good man with me to help hunt these scoundrels down. ” 

The darkness deepened, but no one appeared, and fearing that he 
would not be able to follow the path if he tairied, Dyke Darrel, with 
his revolver in hand, ready for use, moved from his shelter, and 
attempted to make his way ont of the labyrinth in which he found 
himselfi 



44 


DYKE DARREtr. 


The detective soon Icrst the path, however, and found himself in « 
desperate tangle, with the blackness of a dismal night settling down 
upon the place. 

“ I’m in a pickle, now, for a fact,” muttered Dyke Darrel. “ I was 
a little indiscreet in coming here so late in the day. It does seem as 
though I must come out somewhere if I continue to strive.” 

Nevertheless, an hour’s walk in the dense undergrowth failed to 
bring the detective to the bank of Black Hollow, or to any opening. 

“ A veritable trap for the unwary,” growled Dyke, as he halted with 
his back against a tree, with the perspiration oozing from every pore. 
Even his wiry limbs and muscles were not proof against the tangled 
nature of the wood into which he had so coolly entered. 

Dyke Darrel was not in a pleasant mood as he stood meditating on 
the situation. 

“ It looks now as though I was destined to remain in the wood all 
night.” 

It was not a pleasing prospect. 

The detective was on the point of making one more effort to break 
through the tangle that encompassed him, when something caught his 
eye that sent a thrill to his heart. 

'■ It was the glimmer of a light. 

It did not seem to be far away, and Dyke Darrd resumed his fight 
with the thickets with renewed courage. In a little time he entered a 
glade in the woods, to find himself standing in near proximity to a low 
log cabin, through a narrow window of which a light glimmered. 

“ Some one lives here, it seems. ” 

Dyke Darrel moved forward cautiously, for he still believed that 
the wood was the haunt of outlaws, and this very house might be the 
den where the plunder of many raids was secreted. 

Soon the detective stood on a little rise of ground, in such a posi¬ 
tion that he could peer into the window. The interior of a small, 
poorly-furnished apartment met his gaze. 

Beside the glowing embers of a wood fire in a box stove crouched a 
human figure, seemingly the only occupant of the lone log cabin. 

There was a wealth of golden hair flashing in the firelight, and the 
black robe covered the form of what seemed to a beautiful woman. 

As may be supposed, the detective was surprised at the sight. After 
a moment of reflection he resolved to enter the cabin. 

Striding to the door, he rapped gently. No answer came, and the 
detective rapped again. This time the door was cautiously opened, 
and a white face peered out. 

“ Who’s there? ” 

* A traveler who has lost his way. r ' 


POOR sibyl! 


45 

“You cannot come in. Sibyl isn’t afraid, but she wishes to be 
alone.” 

Nevertheless, the woman stood aside and held the door wide. Tl:is 
seemed invitation enough, and the detective at once crossed the floor, 
and pushed to the door at his back. 

The female receded before him, and stood at the far side of the 
room, with both hands extended, waving them gently up and down. 

“Come no nearer, sir; Sibyl would view you from afar. There, 
stand where you are, and do not move. It may be that you are the 
one I have been looking for all these years. ” 

The speaker was evidently young, and possessed a weirdly beautiful 
face, that strangely attracted Dyke Darrel. He stood still and 
watched her singular movements curiously. 

She drew a morocco case from her bosom, opened it, and gazed at 
something, evidently a picture, long and earnestly. She seemed to be 
comparing the face of the picture with that of her visitor. 

Dyke Darrel was puzzled, and somewhat pleased. 

“ No, you are not my Hubert; he was a nobler looking gentleman 
by far.” 

“ Will you permit me to look at the picture, Miss-” 

“ No, no; I dare not trust it out of my hands. I promised him, 
you know, and I must not disappoint Hubert, for he is very exacting. 
Hark! ” 

The girl secreted her prize, and lifted a warning had. 

“Don’t you hear his step? It is Hubert — dear, dear Hubert — 
come back to comfort his poor Sybl after these long, weary years.” 

A low, startling laugh fell from her lips at the last. She darted 
across the floor, and flung the door wide, peering out into the dark¬ 
ness. 

A solemn, awful silence followed, then the door was sharply closed, 
and the queerly acting girl faced Dyke Darrel once more. She looked 
weirdly beautiful, with a mass of golden hair falling below her taper 
waist, her face white as the winter’s snow, almost too white for the 
living. 

So she stood now; the dancing light from the fire fell full on her 
countenance, revealing it for the first time plainly to the gaze of the 
detective. 

A low, stunned cry escaped from his lips. 

“ My God! It is Sibyl Osborne, the Burlington Captain’s daughter. *» 

A low laugh fell from the girl’s lips. 

She began humming a gay tune, and danced across the room with 
arms outstretched, as though attempting to fly. 

The truth came with stunning force — the poor girl was crazy 1 Her 


46 


4YKE DuRREL. 


father, a wealthy Burlington real estate broker, had mysteriously dis¬ 
appeared some months before, and it was supposed that he had met 
with foul play. Despite the efforts of Dyke Darrel and other detec¬ 
tives, no clew had yet been found of the missing man. The detective 
had met Sibyl at her father’s house, and had regarded her as one both 
beautiful and accomplished. To meet her as now was a terrible revela¬ 
tion indeed. 

No wonder Dyke Darrel was stunned. 

For some moments he stood in pained silence, watching the antics 
of the poor unfortunate. 

“ Hubert will come, Hubert will come,” she sung, as she glided 
back and forth across the floor. 

What had caused this awful calamity? Dyke Darrel asked this 
question in saddened thoughtfulness, as he gazed upon the beautiful 
wreck before him. 

“ Tell me that Hubert will come, sir, and then I won’t believe that 
he wrote that cruel letter,” cried Sibyl, in a mournful voice, pausing 
in front of the detective. 

“ I cannot tell you unless you show me the letter,” returned Dyke 
Darrel, resolving to humor her. 

Quickly she drew from her bosom a letter and placed it in the 
detective’s hand. 

He drew it from the wrapper, hoping to learn something that 
might give him a clew to the situation. 

This is what he read : 

“ Miss Sibyl Osborne: I am sorry to inform you that I cannot 
see you again. I am off for Europe on my wedding tour. Forget 
me as soon as possible. 

“H. Vander.” 

“ Do you think my Hubert could write anything so cruel? ” she 
questioned, as he handed the missive back to her. 

“ It doesn’t seem possible,” answered Dyke Darrel. 

It was evident to his mind that the girl had become crazed on 
account of her father’s disappearance and the treachery of her lover. 
The detective’s heart beat sympathetically for the poor wronged girl 
It was his duty to see the girl safely on her way to the Burlington ere 
he continued his search for the assassins of Arnold Nicholson. One 
had already given up his account, but there were others yet to 
punish. 

While Dyke Darrel stood debating what course to pursue, under 
the remarkable change in circumstances, the mad girl uttered a sud¬ 
den, sharp cry. 

“See 1 at is Hubert, my Hubert 1 come at last l** 


A BURNING TRAP. 


47 


A look of mad joy sped across the white face, as one slender arm 
was extended, pointing toward the window. Dyke Darrel followed 
with his eyes, and then he, too, ut cered an involuntary cry. 

Glued to the narrow pane was a face that was startling in the 
intensity of its ghastly pallor, but it was not this that sent an invol¬ 
untary exclamation to the lips of the railroad detective. 

The face at the window was that of his friend, Harper Elliston l 
His presence here was one of the mysteries of that eventful night. 


CHAPTER XII. 

A BURNING TRAP. 

For some moments Dyke Darrel stared at the face in the window 
without moving. How came Harper Elliston in the woods at Black 
Hollow, when he ought to have been in Chicago, according to his 
expressed intentions of the previous day? 

With a sudden, wild scream the crazed Sibyl darted across the 
floor, and thrust her hands against the window with such violence as 
to burst the glass, cutting her hands severely in the operation. 

“ Hubert! Hubert! come at last! ” 

The girl staggered back and sank in a paroxysm to the floor. 

It was indeed a startling affair, yet Dyke Darrel did not lose his 
presence of mind. He hurried to the door and opened it, springing 
outside quickly. 

“ Elliston, I want you. ” 

Dyke Darrel stood by the broken window now, but the man he had 
expected to find was not there. The apparition had vanished as 
though fleeing into the upper air. 

Again the detective called the name of his friend, but without 
receiving a reply. 

Here was a mystery indeed. 

Had that face at the window been an optical delusion, after all? 

Dyke Darrel was not superstitious, yet in the present case a queer 
feeling oppressed him, and an awful misgiving entered his mind. 

“ I cannot believe that the face at the window was other than that 
of Elliston’s; and yet she called him Hubert. It must be that there 
is a mistake somewhere, and it seems to me that the mad girl is more 
apt to be deceived than I.” 

Once more Dyke Darrel returned to the house. 

Sibyl Osborne lay in a dead faint on the floor. The detectfal 

egan chafing her hands at once, and loosened her corsage, 

' Dyke Darrel 4 . 



*3 


DYKE DARREL. 


A mococco case fell to the floor. 

It was the one containing the alleged picture of Hubert Vander. 
Under the circumstances Dyke Darrel believed he was justified in 
examining it. 

He opened the case, and was soon gazing at the face of a handsome 
man. 

Although smoothly shaved, the face of the photograph was that of 
Harper Elliston 1 

A horrid suspicion now took possession of the detective’s brain. 

Securing case and photograph on his own person. Dyke Darrel 
proceeded in his efforts to bring the girl back to life. 

He was soon rewarded. 

“It was Hubert.” 

These were the first words uttered by the girl when she opened het 
eyes. Her hands were stained with blood from cuts made by the 
glass. 

She gazed at the blood, and grew suddenly deathly pale. 

“ My God! he has tried to murder me! ” 

Then she came to her feet, flinging her tangled golden hair about 
wildly, and shrank to the far corner of the room. 

“You have nothing to fear from me, Miss Osborne,” said Dyke # 
“ I arA your friend.” 

“ And Hubert’s friend? ” 

“ Yes, Hubert’s friend, too.” 

“ Who did this, then ? ” 

She held up her bleeding hands. • 

He tried to explain, and she seemed to understand partially, so 
much so as to lose her fear of the detective. 

She began to laugh soon, and the late adventure seemed to pass 
entirely from her mind. Dyke was glad to have it so. 

“ Will you not lie down and rest? ” he said presently. “ We have 
a long j ourney to go in the morning. ” 

“Where? To Hubert?” 

“ Yes, to Hubert.” 

Her great blue eyes regarded him wistfully, and a throb of pain en¬ 
tered his heart at thought of the beautiful girl’s misfortune. There 
was growing in his heart a dangerous feeling, one that boded no good 
to Harper Elliston, should that man prove to be as he now believed, 
the Hubert Vander of the mad girl’s dreams. 

“ Take me to Hubert now, kind sir. I know you can do so, and I 
shall die if he does not keep his word with me. He will never betray 
a poor girl — such a gentleman, and so good? Yes, I will do any¬ 
thing to please you, for it will bring dear Hubert back.” 


A BURNING TRAP. 


49 


s 


She went up and laid both hands on the shoulders of the detective, 
and looked so mournfully into his face as to touch the tenderness in 
his nature deeply. His heart bled for the girl who had been the vic¬ 
tim of a villain’s wiles. 

“ Sit down and rest, Miss Osborne; we will try and find Hubert in 
the morning. ” 

“You are very kind.” 

She seemed gentle and subdued now. It was the calm after the 
storm. Dyke saw that he was not recognized, however, and the mad¬ 
ness was not gone from the poor girl’s brain. 

It was a very sad case, indeed. 

Several stools were in the room, and some blankets hung against 
the further wall, proving that some one had lately occupied the cabin. 
Undoubtedly it had been used as a hiding-place for outlaws, and it 
was a question in the mind of the detective as to how soon the cabin 
would be revisited. The presence of the insane girl necessarily 
altered his plans somewhat. He could not leave her to perish in the 
woods 

Removing the blankets from the wall, Dyke Darrel improvised a 
bed for the poor girl, and induced her to lie thereon. He then re¬ 
plenished the fire with some dry sticks that lay beside the stove, since 
the night air was chill, and sat himself upon the floor, with his head 
reclining against the logs. Before doing this, however, he had taken 
the precaution to secure the only door with a wooden latch that had 
been made for the purpose. 

The window, of course, he was unable to secure. 

It did not seem hardly safe to sleep under the circumstances, but 
Dyke Darrel was very tired, having been without much rest for sev¬ 
eral nights, and he was on the present occasion extremely drowsy. 

Resolving not to fall into a deep slumber, the detective sat with his 
revolver at his side, and went off into the land of dreams before he 
was aware of it. 

Dyke Darrel slept heavily. 

A crackling sound outside did not reach his ear with sufficient force 
to waken him. A face peered in at the window, dark and sinister, 
but the sleeping detective heeded it not. 

Another face, girded about with bristling red hair, appeared for a 
moment, and then receded. Dark forms moved about the cabin 
without, and engaged in a whispered conversation. 

Presently the trees and bushes became visible, and there was a 
smell of burning wood in the air. 

“ It is well,” uttered a voice- “ They will both perish like rats in a 

trap. Dyke Darrel, the famous detective, will never be heard of 

« 


So 


DYKE DARREL. 


more, and that girl—■ well, she will be better dead than living. Come, 
Nick, let us go! ” 

« You’re sure the door’s tightly fastened? ” 

“ I fixed it so Satan himself could not open it.” 

“ Good.” 

“ Let us go! ” 

« Wait. I’d like to see the curse roast.” 

« No, no; that won’t do. We’ll come in the day time and look at 
the bones. This old log hut has had its day, and we could not put it 
to a better use than to make a mausoleum for the man-tracker of the 
West.” 

There was no hesitating after this. 

The two men moved swiftly away in the gloom that surrounded the 
burning cabin. 

A choking sensation caused the reclining man in the cabin to stir 
uneasily. 

Presently he opened his eyes. 

The room was full of smoke, and red tongues of flame were licking 
at the logs from every side. 

Quickly Dyke Darrel came to his feet. A smell of burning gar¬ 
ments filled his nostrils. The bed on which Sibyl Osborne rested 
was on fire! 

“My soul! this is unfortunate,” cried the detective. He was equal 
to the emergency, however. Springing.to the side of the still sleep¬ 
ing girl, Dyke lifted her in his arms and strode to the door. 

Quickly he slipped the rude bolt and grasped the latch. 

It refused to yield. 

The door was firmly secured on the outside. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A SAD FATE. 

one instant, Dyke Darrel was paralyzed. 

"I* It was for a moment only, however. He shook the door fu. 
riously, blinded by smoke, and almost strangled by hot air. 

The door would not yield. 

At this moment, the girl awoke and began to scream. Bits of burn, 
ing wood fell all about them. 

Soon the roof would tumble in with a crash. When that moment 
came, every living thing must perish within the house. 

Dyke Darrel moved to the window, leading Sibyl. She staggered 
and -seemed ready to fall. 


A SAD FATE. 


5 1 


" Courage!” he cried, “ we will soon be out of this.” 

Reaching the narrow window, the detective dashed out sash and 
glass with a stool, and the air from outside seemed like a breath from 
fairy land. 

“ You must go first? ” 

Dyke Darrel assisted his fair companion to the opening. An in* 
stant later she had passed outside. 

Then something occurred that quite startled the detective and filled 
him with intense alarm. 

A burning log fell from the side of the cabin with a thud that was 
sickening. A horrible fear at once took possession of Darrel. With 
a quick bound he gained the opening, and leaped clear of the burn¬ 
ing logs to the ground without. 

Turning about he uttered a cry of horror. 

Sibyl Osborne lay crushed beneath a black log that was yet smok¬ 
ing with heat. With a herculean effort the detective lifted and flung 
the log from the poor girl’s breast, and then he lifted and carried her 
beyond the reach of flame and heat, and laid her on a little mound 
beneath a. giant tree. 

One glance into the mad girl’s face satisfied him of the mournful 
truth. The falling log had done fatal work, and with his hand clasp¬ 
ing hers, Dyke Darrel watched the gasps that grew fainter each mo¬ 
ment, until the silence and quietude of eternity rested on all. 

“ Dead ! ” 

With that one word Dyke Darrel started to his feet and gazed 
about him. There was a flinty gleam in his keen eyes and a fierce 
grating of white teeth. 

It had been a long time since the railroad detective was moved as 
at that hour, w ith the work of human fiends before him. 

From the burning cabin his gaze returned to the upturned white 
face of the dead girl. Pure and lovely as a lily looked the face of the 
wronged and dead. 

“ It is better so, perhaps,” muttered the detective. 

Had the girl lived she might never have enjoyed an hour of reason. 
With that dethroned, what could death be but a welcome messenger. 
And yet the manner of the mad girl’s taking off was shocking in the 
extreme. 

Had Dyke Darrel known the way out, he would have taken the 
corpse in his arms and hurried from the scene at once. As it was, 
the detective deemed it wise to remain in the vicinity until morning, 
when it was likely he would have little trouble in making his way out 
of the woods! 

The remaining hours of the night passed slowly. Dyke Darrel 


5* 


DYKE DARREL. 


dared not sleep, and so he kept his lonely vigil beside the dead, seated 
in the shadows, with revolver ready to use at a moment’s notice. 

No interruption came, however, and when the gray streaks of 
morning dawned the detective breathed easier. He at once went in 
search of a road that would lead out of the wood. 

He met with better success than he had dared hope. He found a 
path that must have been used by the owner of the cabin, and which 
it was evident the mad girl had followed in her wanderings. 

How long she had been in the cabin the detective had no means of 
knowing, but it seemed to him evident that she could have been there 
but a few hours when discovered by him. 

The way out of the Black Hollow woods was long and tedious, but 
Dyke Darrel proved equal to the task, and when he broke cover and 
entered upon the open ground above, he was glad to see a team ap¬ 
proaching, driven by a farmer. 

“ Hello! What hev’ you got there? ” cried the man, in open-eyed 
amazement, when he halted beside the detective and his burden. 

“ A lady. She was accidentally killed last night.” 

“It’s awful!” 

“ I quite agree with you,” returned Dyke Darrel; “but if you will 
take the woman aboard and drive to the house of Mr. Bragg, I will 
pay you for it.” 

“ Of course I will. ” 

The farmer was garrulous on the way,, and it required all the de¬ 
tective’s ingenuity to answer his questions promptly, so as not to excite 
the fellow’s suspicions. 

The body of the beautiful dead girl was laid in one of Agent Bragg’s 
rooms, and the latter telegraphed to the nearest town of importance 
for a casket, which arrived at Black Hollow shortly after noon. 

“ I will attend to shipping it,” said Mr. Bragg. “ This is a sad case. 
It is a wonder to me that somebody did not see the girl yesterday.” 

“ Possibly she got off at another station. ” 

“ Do you think she came to this vicinity on the cars? ” 

“ Most certainly,” answered the detective. 

“ Will you go to Chicago now? ” 

“ I am not fully decided,” returned Dyke Darrel. “ At what hour 
does the train pass? ” 

“ Six-fifty to-night.” 

“ But the down train goes earlier 5 ” 

“ At four.” 

“ And at Bloomington I can take the cars for Burlington? n 

“ If you so desire. ” 

“ I will think about it.” 


A SAD PA-Tffi. 


5*3 


Sauntering along in the afternoon, just in the outskirts of the vil¬ 
lage, Dyke Darrel came suddenly upon a man standing with his back 
against a telegraph pole. 

“ Hello l ” ejaculated the detective, as the man turned and faced 
him. 

It was Harper Elliston. 

“ I thought you were in Chicago,” pursued the mystified Dyke. 
And then he remembered the face he had seen at the window of the 
cabin in Black Hollow the previous night. The memory brought a 
harsh expression to his countenance. 

“ Ah, you are still here, Dyke.” 

Mr. Elliston smiled and held out his hand. 

“ I don’t understand this,” said Dyke Darrel. “ You have deceived 
me in some way, Harper. You were in Black Hollow last night. ” 

“ There you are mistaken,” assured Mr. Elliston; “ I stopped off 
here on the noon train.” 

“You did not go to Chicago, then? ” 

“ Yes, I did ; but only remained an hour. You see the man I was 
looking for was not there, but had gone to Burlington, Iowa, and so, 
remembering that you stopped off here yesterday, I thought I would 
run down and learn if you had made any discovery.” 

“ You came at noon? ” 

« Yes ” 

“ Why did not you call for me at Bragg’s ? ” 

“ Are you stopping there? ” 

« Certainly. If you had inquired for me of the agent here, you 
would have certainly found me. ” 

« That’s exactly what I did do, and I did not find you; so now,” 
and Mr. Elliston laughed at the perplexed look on the detective’s 
face. 

The actions and words of this man were indeed a puzzle to Dyke 
Darrel. 

“ Harper, I want to ask you a plain question-” 

“ And you want a categorical answer, Mr. Darrel,” interrupted the 
New Yorker with a laugh. 

“I do.” 

“ Go ahead.” 

“ Weren’t you in Black Hollow last night ? ” 

“ Certainly not I was with a friend at least sixty miles away, near 
Chicago.” 

“ Can you prove this? ” 

“ If necessary, of course; but what in the world is the matter. 
Dyke? I hope you wouldn’t accuse me of deception.” 


54 


DYKE DARREL. 


u No. Will you come with me to Bragg’s ? n 

** Certainly. ” 

And then the two men walked away together. There was a solemn 
expression pervading the face of Dyke Darrel. He had experienced 
many strange things during his detective life, but this latest phase 
puzzled him the most. 

He could swear that he saw the face of Elliston at the window of 
the house in the gulch on the previous night, yet the assertion from 
his friend that he was fifty miles away at the time seemed honest 
enough. 

Having been long in the detective work, Dyke Darrel had grown 
to be suspicious, and so he was fast losing faith in the good intentions 
of his New York friend. He had suddenly resolved on a test that he 
believed would prove effectual in setting all doubts at rest. 

Arrived at the Bragg dwelling, the detective conducted Harper 
Elliston at once to the room where the remains of the beautiful, dead 
girl lay encoffined. 


.CHAPTER XIV 


DYKE DARREL ASTOUNDED. 


D YKE DARREL lifted a cloth from the face of the dead, and 
Harper Elliston stood gazing down upon the features of wronged 
and murdered Sibyl Osborne. 

The detective watched the expression of his companion’s counte¬ 
nance closely. 

With bated breath the man-hunter glued his gaze upon the face of 
the man bending over the casket. 

* What a sad face, and yet most wonderful in its beauty. Who is 
she? A daughter of the house ? ” 

Harper turned and regarded Dyke Darrel questioningly, a sympa- 
pathetic look in his black eyes. 

“ Do you not know her? ” 

“/ know her? You forget that I am a stranger in this part of the 
West, Dyke.’’ 

“ She, too, was a stranger here, Elliston. Her home was in Bur¬ 
lington, and she has been brought to this by a villain who ought to 
pass the remainder of his days behind prison bars, if not conclude 
them at a rope’s end. Do you know Hubert Vander? ” . 

There was a stern ring in the detective’s voice, and a look of deep, 
indignant feeling pervading his face. All the time he kept his gaze 
riveted on Elliston. 


DYKE DARREL ASTOUNDED. 


55 


That gentleman stood the ordeal without flinching, however, 

“ Hubert Vander? The name is a new one to me, Dyke.” 

“Indeed!” 

A sneer curled the lip of the detective. 

“ What do you mean by that?” questioned Mr. Elliston. “ Am I to 
understand that you connect me in any way with this girl’s death, or 
that I am a friend to this Hubert Vander of whom you speak?” 

“Your pretended indignation will not deceive, Harper Elliston. 
Look at this, and tell me what you think of it,” said Dyke Darrel, 
with the sternness of steel. 

The detective laid the photograph he had obtained in the Black 
Hollow cabin in the hand of Mr. Elliston. 

The New Yorker did start then. 

He gazed long and constantly at the pictured face. 

“ What have you to say now, Harper Elliston?” demanded Dyke 
Darrel, in an awful voice. 

“ It is a mighty close resemblance, ” returned the gentleman. “ Where 
did you obtain this, Dyke?” 

“ From Sibyl Osborne.” 

“ Sibyl Osborne?” 

“ She who lies before you. If that is not your portrait, and if you 
are not the man who murdered Captain Osborne and ruined his daughter, 
then I am out of my senses.” 

With the words Dyke Darrel presented a cocked revolver at the 
heart of the cool, smiling villain before him. 

The smile left the New Yorker’s face, and a serious expression fol¬ 
lowed it. 

“ What? You draw a pistol on me, Dyke Darrel? I am sur¬ 
prised,” cried Mr. Elliston in an injured tone. “ I did not imagine 
that you could lose confidence in me, let what would happen. Can it 
be that our friendship was but a brittle cord, after all? ” 

“ I cannot remain friendly when my confidence has been betrayed. ” 

“And you deem me a most hardened scoundrel? Of course you 
will give me a hearing. You are an upholder of law, and do not 
approve of lynching. Here, put on the handcuffs, Dyke, and take 
me to prison. You will be sorry for this some time, but now that 
circumstances are against me your friendship falls to the ground. I 
did not expect such treatment. However, I can live through it; but 
I shall never feel toward you as I have in times past. Put on the irons, 
Dyke. Why do you hesitate? ” 

“ There is a chance for a mistake, of course,” said the detective. 

“ I am glad you admit that much.” 

“ Is that your photograph? * 


S6 


DYKE DARREL. 


You said it belonged to a young lady ! n 
“ But is it a photograph of your face? ” 

«It is not.” 

“ You swear it? ” 

“I do.” 

“ And you were not in Black Hollow, last night? 9 
“ I was not.” 

“ Swear it ? 

“ I swear it. ” 

“ You did not know this dead girl? ” 

Dyke Darrel pointed toward the face in the coffin. 

“ I did not.” 

“ Will you swear to this also? ” 

“ With my hand on my heart I swear.” 

The white hand of Mr. Elliston was laid impressively against his 
bosom. 

There was such a look of honest earnestness on the man’s face it 
was impossible to doubt, and Dyke Darrel was forced to forego ar¬ 
resting the New Yorker then and there. 

If he was not fully satisfied, he did not permit Elliston to note the 
fact. 

“ I did but try you, Harper,” Dyke Darrel said with a smile, ex¬ 
tending his hand. “You are true as steel and I am glad to find it so 
I have endured misery since last night, because I feared, and came to 
believe otherwise. ” 

“ You will trust me as of old? ” 

“Yes.” 

“Thanks. Now tell me all about the facts regarding this poor 
girl.” 

Dyke Darrel did as requested, although he kept back some things 
that he did not deem it necessary for Mr. Elliston to know. 

“ And you saw this Hubert Vander peering into the cabin window 
— the man who looks like me! ” 

“I did.” 

“ Well, it’s pretty'tough, and no mistake, to have a fellow of such 
villainous character circulating about in this region. I hope I won’t 
be hung for his crime by indignant citizens. I agree with you that 
this Hubert Vander is a sleek villain, and that hanging is too good 
for him. It does seem that you made an important discovery last 
night, however.” 

« Explain. ” 

“ This man Vander no doubt murdered Captain Osborne. ” 

“ I am led to think so myself,” said Dvhe Darrel. 


DYKE DARREL ASTOUNDED. 


S 7 


4 He also jilted the Captain’s daughter, if no worse, and the two 
eorrows turned the poor girl’s brain. It is a sad and terrible case. I 
feel deeply interested, and hope to see the scoundrel who looks like 
me brought to. justice.” 

“ I am glad to hear you say so.” 

“ Furthermore I have another idea.” 

“ Proceed.” 

“ It is undoubtedly this Vander who planned the robbery of the 
midnight express. A man who could deceive one so beautiful as thi s 
girl, would not hesitate to do anything to feather his own nest.” 

“ Again I agree with you. ” 

" Evidently it was either this man, or friends of his, who fastened 
the door of the cabin, and fired it with the hope of destroying the 
detective who was dogging them so closely. ” 

“ True, I had thought of that.” 

44 And here’s another thing.” 

“ Well? ” 

“ May not this Vander and his friends conclude that the man- 
hunter perished in the flames, if they fail to see him again? A dis¬ 
guise would fix that easily, you know. ” 

“ No, that will not go down.” 

“ Why not? ” 

“ My enemies will visit the ruins of the cabin, and failing to dis¬ 
cover skeletons, will learn the truth. ” 

“ That does not necessarily follow.” 

“ I think it does. I may act on your suggestion, however,” re¬ 
turned Dyke Darrel. 

“ And put on a disguise? ” 

« Yes.” 

“ What will it be? ” 

The detective laughed. 

« Don’t ask me, Harper, he said. “ Of what use a disguise that my 
friends all understood? ” 

«Is this because you fear to trust me, after what has happened, 
Dyke?” 

“ No ; but I prefer to keep my own counsel 1 ” 

“ And you are right.” 

44 I am glad you admit it. ” 

The friends then left the room. 

At the last moment. Dyke Darrel decided on accompanying the 
remains of Captain Osborne’s daughter to Burlington. He realized 
that it was the proper thing to do. Elliston parted with the detect' 


DYKE DARREL. 


5» 

ive, telling him that he meant to return to Woodburg for the present, 
and would meet him there on his return from the Iowa city. 

It was a sad duty that led the railroad detective to revisit Bur¬ 
lington, which he had last looked upon in the fall, shortly after 
Captain Osborne’s disappearance. 

Arrived in the bustling Western city, Dyke Darrel was met at the 
depot by a surprise. An officer laid his hand on the detective’s 
shoulder, and said: 

“ You are my prisoner, young man.” 

“Eh? Well, now, what is this for?” demanded Dyke Darrel 
angrily. 

“ For the murder of Captain Osborne and his daughter! ” 

Dyke Darrel felt the cold muzzle of a revolver touch his temple at 
the last. 


CHAPTER XV. 

A BAFFLED VILLAIN. 

I N the meantime Harper Elliston, true to his word for once at least, 
left the train at the Woodburg depot on the same morning that 
his young detective friend arrived in Burlington. 

Repairing to his room at the hotel, the New Yorker remained until 
the dinner hour. After this he turned his steps in the direction of the 
Darrel Cottage. 

“ I suppose Nell Darrel will be delighted to see me,” chuckled Ellis¬ 
ton, as he walked up the steps and rang the bell. 

Aunt Jule opened the door. 

“ Marse Dyke ain’t home.” 

“ But Miss Nell is, I suppose.” 

“Yes, and deed, sir; she’s got company, and can’t see no one fur 
de present,” cried the grinning negress, quickly. 

“ Company? A lot of chattering girls, I suppose? ” 

“No; a young gemmen-” 

“ A gentleman? ” 

The frown that blackened the brows of Harper Elliston was not 
pleasant to see. He was not pleased that Nell should receive othel 
male company than himself. 

“ I will enter. I think she will see me when she knows who has 
come,” said he, pushing past the negress, and entering the front room. 

He seated himself in an armchair, and proceeded to coolly await 
the coming of the mistress of the house. 

Soon Nell Darrel came in. Her face was suffused with smiles, which 


A BAFFLED VILLAIN. 


59 


evidenced that she had heard good news. Elliston, however, flattered 
himself that it was his coming that caused the pleased look on the face 
of the detective’s sister. 

“ A pleasant day, Mr. Elliston. ” 

« Rather.” 

He rose and held out his hand. She did not accept it, much to his 
chagrin. 

“ Aren’t you glad to see me, Nell? ” he queried. “ I’ve been absent 
almost a week, and I thought you would be longing for my company 
by this time. ” 

A smile of self-assurance crossed his dark face. 

“ I have no reason to regard you with any more consideration than 
on your former visit,” she said. “ Have you seen my brother? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ Where is he now? ” 

“ In Iowa, I presume. ” 

“ He is well ? ” 

“ He was when I parted with him, a short time since. You haven’t 
heard from him? ” 

“ Yes. He was then in a small town in the South or West, I believe. ” 
Thus they chatted for some time. 

During the past few days a desperate resolve had taken possession 
of Elliston’s brain. He admired the pretty Nell now more than ever, 
and he was determined | to make one more effort toj win her regard 
before going to extremes. 

That morning he had braced his nerves with several draughts of 
brandy, and the fumes yet affected him, thus rendering him extremely 
imprudent, to say the least. 

“Nell, Jule tells me you had company when I came. Who 
was it?” 

“ A gentleman. ” 

“ Aye, but his name? ” 

The man’s eyes glittered, and seemed to pierce with their keenness 
to the soul of the girl who sat in front of him. She could smell his 
breath, too, and the fact that he had been drinking made her a little 
nervous. 

She was anxious for him to depart. 

« He is not one of your acquaintances,” replied Nell, evasively. 

« But one of yours, it seems,” sneered the man, in a tone that was 
the least bit disrespectful. 

“ Mr. Elliston, did you come here to insult me? ” 

“Certainly not,” he answered in a gentler tone. “Forgive me. 


6o 


DYKE DARREL. 


Nellie; I can’t abide having another win the affections of one I so 
much covet. If you only knew, Nell-” 

“ Mr. Elliston, don’t. ” 

Both came to their feet. 

He advanced and seized her hands once more; nay, he suddenly 
flung one arm about her slender waist and drew her closely, at the 
same time imprinting a kiss on her cheek. 

“ I love you, Nell, and will not give you up. Fly with me, darling, 
where no odious friends may come between us! ” 

“ Villain, release me! ” 

Nell struggled with desperate energy, but she was as a child in the 
hands of the tall scoundrel. 

“ No, no, little girl, I will not permit you to escape. I mean to 
make it impossible for you to wed another,” grated the man, in a 
meaning voice, that sent a shudder of horror to the heart of pure 
Nell Darrel. 

Lucky was it for the girl that her visitor had not yet left the house. 

Nell screamed aloud, and then the hand of Elliston was pressed over 
her pretty mouth. Had the man been in his sober senses, he would 
never have attempted such bold work ; but when in liquor Harper 
Elliston was far from prudent. 

“No nonsense now,” he sneered. 

And then a door opened; a slender form crossed the floor, and as 
Elliston turned to confront the new-comer he received a straight left¬ 
hander in the chest that sent him back reeling. 

Gasping, and very red, Nell started aside, and held out her hand 
with a low cry of alarm. 

The stalwart Elliston soon regained his equilibrium, and faced the 
one who had dealt him such a furious blow — a slender youth not yet 
out of his teens, yet in whose blue eyes flashed a determined spirit. 

“ Scoundrel! ” ejaculated Elliston. 

He stood glaring at the boy with the venom of a mad serpent in 
his black eyes. 

“ Get from this house, or I will call the police and have you put in 
the cooler,” said the boy, quickly, standing with clenched hands in 
front of Nell, and returning the tall man’s scowls<with interest. 

“ I’ll smash every bone in your body, you insignificant little snipe,” 
roared Elliston. Instead, however, of making the attempt, the man 
drew a small derringer from his pocket, and lifting the hammer, leveled 
it at the head of his youthful assaulter. 

“ Gentlemen, please, please desist,” pleaded Nell in a shaky voice. 

“ This is no place for a quarrel.” 

** It isn’t, I admit,” returned the boy, “ but this sneak brought it 



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I'll 1 ! 

Mill 


JjJ 

T 

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A. 




Eliiston receives a check. 



















































































































































































































































































































































6l 


DYKE DARREL. 


about, and now the odds are so much against him, he has recourse to 
a deadly weapon. There is just that difference between us, Harper 
Elliston. ” 

The New Yorker started as the youth pronounced his name. He 
imagined that he was not known to the boy. 

“ You see, I know you,” proceeded the boy, noticing the man start. 
“ I have had the villian Elliston pretty well described to me, and know 
that your act just now justifies me in calling you by that name. Shoot, 
coward, if you dare. ” 

There was a cool defiance in the blue eyes of the boy, that won the 
admiration of Elliston in spite of his anger. 

“ No, the game is too small,” retorted Elliston, lowering his weapon. 
“ I cannot afford to tarnish an honorable reputation by shedding the 
blood of a child. I shall, nevertheless, remember you, young man, 
and on the proper occasion give you the thrashing you so richly de¬ 
serve. ” 

A look from Nell Darrel cut short the words that trembled on the 
lips of the youth. 

“ I bid you good afternoon, Miss Darrel,” and Elliston bowed and 
walked to the door. “ I will see you again and explain matters.” 

The door opened and closed, and the smooth villain was gone. 

“ Thank Heaven! ” murmured Nell. It might have been worse,” 
said the boy. “ I did not miss my guess when I called him Elliston?” 

“ No.” 

“ I thought not. You can see now that Harry Bernard had good 
reason for warning you to beware of Harper Elliston! ” 

“ I can see it plainly enough, ” returned the girl. “ When will 
Harry come to Woodburg?” 

“I understand how anxious you are,” said the boy, with a smile. 
“ Harry is assisting Dyke to ferret out the railroad express crime, 
-and it may be some weeks before he comes to this part of the 
State. I think he will be satisfied to know that you are true to him. 
It was his knowledge of Elliston’s villainy that induced him to send 
me to see you with a note of warning. ” 

“ I am thankful for his kindness, Mr. Ender. ” 

“ Everybody calls me Paul, Miss Darrel.” 

“ And everybody (that is my friends), all call me Nell,” returned 
the girl, with a pleasant little laugh. 

“ Let it be Nell and Paul then,” and the boy joined in her laugh, 
thus aiding in banishing the shadows of the day. Harry Bernard’s 
youthful messenger soon after departed, promising to call again on 
the following day, when he might have another message from young 
Bernard, who was still supposed to be in St. Louis. 


A BAFFLED VILLAIN. 6 $ 

In the meantime the angry and discomfited Elliston repaired to 
the hotel and made hasty preparations for departure. 

He left on the first train for Chicago. 

It was late in the evening that Mrs. Scarlet, in her den on Clark 
street, was roused from a nap she was indulging in, with her head 
avainst the wall, by a sharp rap at the door. 

Rousing up, she went to see who had come. 

She admitted a man with a plug hat and red whiskers. 

Professor Darlington Ruggles. 

“ Aren’t you glad to see me, Madam? ” 

He held out a white set of digits. 

“ No — why should I be glad? ” 

She accepted the proffer of friendship, however, and shoved a 
rickety old chair for her visitor’s use. 

“ I’ll tell you why. Because I am the best friend youv’e got in 
Chicago. ” 

“ That wouldn’t be saying much,” and Mrs. Scarlet laughed harshly. 

“ Wouldn’t it? ” 

“ Didn’t I say so? Nobody comes to see me now since poor 
Nephew Martin was taken from me. I feel about ready to die but 
for one thing. ” 

“ And that? ” 

“ Revenge! ” 

Her eyes snapped in their hollow sockets and the withered bosom 
heaved with inward emotion. 

Mr. Ruggles emitted a laugh. 

He was evidently pleased at the condition of the woman’s feelings. 

“ I am glad to find you in this condition, Madam,” he said, after a 
brief pause. “ I am here to tell you how you can be revenged, if I 
mistake not the object on whom your hatred rests. 

“ It’s that infernal Dyke Darrel. ” 

“ I knew it. You would smile and feel happy to see him suffer? ” 

“It would be as beefsteak to a starving man,” said the woman, 
savagely. 

“ Then listen. He has a most cnarmmg sister living in one of the 
interior towns of the State. She is the only relative he has in the 
wide world. You can strike the railroad detective through Nell 
Darrel. ” 

“ Yes, yes — go on. ” 

“ He is away most of his time, as you doubtless know——” 

“ And the girl is alone? ” 

“ Save for an old negress. Don’t interrupt me, please, until I tell 
you the exact situation. One of my acquaintances, a gentleman of 

Dyke Darrel 5. 


64 


DYKE DARREL. 


means, and a mean gentleman, .or that matter, wishes to get this 
girl in.o his possession. What object he may have does not matter, 
so long as he is willing to pay big for the work. All that is required 
of you, Mrs. Scarlet, is to furnish a room, and see that when once 
inside, Miss Darrel does not escape nor communicate with the outside 
world. Do you understand? ” 

“ I do.” 

“ And you will consent to act as this girl’s keeper for a time? ” 

“ Yes, yes, ” cried the woman, with eager emphasis, and then a low, 
half-suppressed sneeze startled them both. 

Professor Darlington Ruggles sprang up and looked toward the 
door. It stood ajar, and through the opening peered a masked face, 
centered with a pair of glittering eyes. 

Uttering a mad cry, Ruggles drew a concealed revolver and, leve* 
ing at the head, fired. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

NELL MISSING. 


T HE reader can imagine the indignation of the railroad detective 
when he found himself arrested by the Burlington officer. 

“ I beg your pardon, sir,” said Dyke Darrel, “ but you are making 

a foolish mistake. I am a detective-” 

“That won’t go down. If you attempt to escape I will blow out 
your brains,” returned the officer, still holding his cocked weapon to 
the head of Dyke Darrel. 

The detective was deeply annoyed at this. On board the train were 
the remains of the daughter of one of Burlington’s most prominent 
citizens, and Dyke was extremely anxious to meet the friends and 
explain the situation. 

“You may take me at once to the chief of police,” said pyke 
Darrel, at length. “ I can explain to him, since he knows me. 

Another officer approached, and the first one requested him to 
handcuff his prisoner. 

A hot flush of anger shot to the cheek of the detective. 

“ This is going too far,” he said in a vexed tone. “ If you attempt 
to put the irons on me, I’ll make you trouble. I tell you I am ac* 
quainted with your chief, and demand that you take me to him.’* 

“ That’s fair enough,” said the second officer. 

“ But he’s a dangerous character, ” persisted the first. 

“ Whom do you take me for,” Dyke demanded indignantly. 

" Slim Steve, the train robber.” 



NELL MISSING. 


<$5 


u Where did you get your information? ” 

“ It doesn’t matter. ” 

11 You’d better go slow, officer. Look at that, and tell me what you 
think of it? ” 

Turning back the lap of his coat Dyke Darrel revealed a glittering 
silver star, and below this a flaming eye on a dark background. 

“ A Pinkerton detective! ” exclaimed the second officer. 

“ I am a detective, and know my business without receiving instruc¬ 
tions from the police of a one-horse town,” retorted Dyke Darrel in 
anger. “ I am willing, however, to visit your chief, who will confirm 
my words. ” 

“We had orders from him to arrest you.” 

“ Very good. I demand that you take me before him.” 

After a short consultation the two officers concluded'^o gratify their 
prisoner, and, without attempting to handcuff him, they conducted 
him from the d£pot to the police station. 

As luck would have it, the chief was in, and at once recognized and 
greeted Dyke Darrel. Explanations soon followed. 

“ You must not blame my men,” said the chief, “ for word was sent 
from an interior town in Illinois stating that a notorious crook was 
on the train, and would stop at Burlington. A description was given 
that tallied with yours, and so the mistake was made. ” 

“ Do you know who sent the dispatch? ” 

“ A sheriff, I think. ” 

“ Just accommodate me with the name of the town, please.” 

Dyke Darrel was deeply excited at this last attempt to deprive him 
of his liberty. 

The officer referred to the dispatch'and read the name of the place 
from whence it originated. 

“ Woodburg!” 

Dyke Darrel uttered the name in wonder. 

“ I don’t understand it,” he said; “ that is my own home, and I am 
too well known there to merit suspicion. It must have been meant 
for a practical joke,” and the detective’s thoughts were turned to 
Harper Elliston. 

“It might be, of course,” admitted the chief of Burlington police, 
“but it is a joke that I shouldn’t relish, and you might make it warm 
for the perpetrator. I can telegraph and inquire into it if you wish, 
Mr. Darrel.” 

“ Not now. I shall be in Woodburg within a few days, and then I 
will find out all about it. ” 

Dyke Darrel repaired at once to the home of Captain Osborne, 


66 


DYKE DARREL. 


which was occupied by relatives of the Captain, and informed them of 
the sad fate that had overtaken Sibyl Osborne. 

An aunt and cousin, the latter a young man of prominence, were 
the relatives mentioned. The cousin promised to attend the remains, 
after listening to the strange story Dyke Darrel had to tell. Sibyl 
had left home ten days before, pretending to go on a visit to friends. 
When she left it was not suspected that she was out of her mind, con* 
sequently the news was all the more sad 

From Burlington the railroad detective returned to’Black Hollow, 
and from there he went to St. Louis to consult with Harry Bernard. 
Here he was met with the announcement that his young friend had 
taken the train for Chicago some days before. 

This was an annoying state of affairs indeed. 

Remaining a few days in St. Louis, Dyke Darrel at length left the 
city en route for Woodburg. He was anxious to meet Nell, from 
whom he had been absent now about a fortnight. 

On reaching Woodburg the detective found a telegram awaiting 
him from Chicago: 

“ Come at once. I have made an important discovery. 

“ H.” 

Of course this must be from Harry. It was dated some days be¬ 
fore, however, which annoyed Dyke. Harry Bernard might have 
changed his base of operations by this time 

“ I will call at the house,” mused Dyke Darrel. I have an hour’s 
time before the next Chicago train.” 

Aunt Jule was extremely glad to meet “ Marse Dyke.” 

“ Why didn’t you bring the young missus wid yo? ” questioned the 
negress. 

« What’s that? Hope you didn’t think I’d committed matrimony?” 
and the detective laughed lightly, at the same time chucking Aunt 
Jule under her fat chin. 

“ Lor-a-massy, no, Marse Dyke. I meant Missy Nell,” explained 
the black woman. 

“ Miss Nell? Isn’t she at home? ” 

“ Wal, now, what a question. In coorse she ain’t. Didn’ yo’ send 
fur her yo’ very self? How den yo’ ’spec she’s goin’ to be home ef 
yo* didn’ done brung her, eh?” 

All this was Greek to Dyke Darrel. 

“ What in the name of caution are you driving at, Aunt Jule ? J 
haven’t seen my sister since I left home, and if she’s gone to look for 
me she’s done a very foolish thing, for I’m not long in one place— 
she ought to have known better.” 


NELL IN THE TOILS. 67 

Aunt Jule flounced out of the room, to return soon with a yellow 
envelope in her hand. 

“Dere, look a-dat now. Ef yo’ didn’ done writ dat, den'I’d like 
to know who did. ” 

The detective opened the letter his housekeeper placed in’ his hand, 
and read: 

“ Chicago, April 30, 188-. 

Nell: — Come on the next train, as I wish to see you in this city. 
Aunt Jule will look after the house until your return. Don’t disap¬ 
point me. “ Dyke. ” 

The detective glanced at the negress after reading this note, the 
writing of which very much resembled hishand. 

“ This came when? ” 

“ Yesterday. ” 

“ Through the mail ? ” 

“ Yes, Marse. ” 

A frown darkened the brow of the detective. He crumpled the 
letter in his hand and began pacing the floor with nervous strides. 

“ Somefin must be wrong ef yo’ didn’ write that letter. ” 

Suddenly Dyke Darrel turned on the speaker and touched her huge 
arm with a clinging hand. 

" Jule, when did my sister answer this fetter ? ” he demanded, 
fiercely. 

“ Jest the next train.” 

“ Last night ? ” 

“ Yes, Marse Dyke. ” 

Dropping his hand from Aunt Jule’s huge arm, the detective rushed 
from the room and the house. He was laboring under great excite¬ 
ment, as well he might be, for Nell was as the apple of his eye, and 
she had been enticed to the great city for a fell purpose, he believed. 


CHAPTER XVIL 


NELL IN THE TOILS. 


T HE instant after Professor Ruggles fired, the masked face in the 
doorway disappeared, and the sound of swift-moving feet was 

heard. 

Still clutching his weapon, the Professor strode to the door and 
flung it open, gazing into the alley, which framed no reply to the 
question that trembled unspoken on his lips. 

“ Did you hit him, Professor ? ” 

«I fear I didn’t.” 



68 


DYKE DARREL. 


Professor Ruggles then made an examination of the alley that 
assured him that his bullet had not been stopped by flesh and bone— 
instead, it lay on the ground where it had fallen, flattened, from the 
brick wall above. 

“ So much for being a poor shot,” sneered the woman. 

“ So much for your condemned carelessness in not locking the 
door,” he retorted with equal severity. 

“ Well, maybe you’d better see that it is fastened now.” 

Professor Darlington Ruggles turned the key in the lock, and then 
assumed a seat once more. 

“ Let me see. Where did we leave off? ” 

“In a mighty important place,” answered the woman. “If that 
sneak had been at the door long, he must have heard something of 
our plans. ” 

“ And it makes you feel uneasy ? ” 

“ Don’t it you? ” 

“ A trifle. I can’t imagine who the sneak was.” 

“ Nor I.” 

“ It might have been one of the boys playing a joke,” said Ruggles. 

“ I hope it’s nothing more serious.” 

“ I shall dismiss the sneak from my mind at any rate,” returned Mr. 
Ruggles. “ To-morrow night you may look for your guest, Mrs. 
Scarlet. Remember, whatever plans for vengeance you may have 
formed will be more than gratified in placing this detective’s sister 
completely in the power of a man who knows how to use it.” 

The Professor’s eyes snapped at the last, and he lifted and 
smoothed his hat rapidly with one long arm. 

“ I understand. Nothing can be too harsh and awful for one of the 
breed,” hissed Madge Scarlet, in a way that made even Professor 
Ruggles’ flesh creep. 

Then he rose to go. 

“ I will see you again ere long. ” 

Mrs. Scarlet locked the door after the retreating form of the tall 
Professor, and then, going to the little table, she sat down, and. rest¬ 
ing her thin cheeks between her hands, she cried: 

“It is coming, it is coming! At last I am to avenge the insults 
heaped upon me and mine by that scoundrel, who sends men to prison 
for money, for pay doled out to him by the minions of the law. 
Dan’l, if you can look down on your old widow to-night, from your 
home among the stars, you will see her with tears of joy in her old 
ryes at thought of how she will avenge herself on your enemies. 
When once that girl comes into my hands, I will execute vengeance 


NELL IN THE TOILS. 69 

to suit myself, without regard to Professor Ruggles, or any other 
man. ” 

So it would-seem that even the Professor did not fully comprehend 
the depth of Mrs. Scarlet’s vindictiveness toward Dyke Darrel. 

It was Professor Darlington Ruggles who penned the letter to Nell 
Darrel that sent the unsuspecting girl to Chicago to meet her 
brother. 

She was not a little surprised at not finding Dyke at the depot to 
meet her, and consequently felt a thrill of alarm at seeing so many 
strange faces. 

Why had he not come? 

While standing meditating on what course to pursue, a gentleman 
in rather seedy garments, -e‘ withal not bad looking, stepped up and 
touched the girl’s arm. 

“ Is this Miss Darrel? ” 

“Yes, sir,” answered the girl, promptly, at the same time regarding 
the tall, sunset-haired gentleman, who bowed and lifted his tall hat, 
with no little curiosity. 

“ I am Oscar Sims, a friend to the great detective, and ever ready 
to serve his handsome sister. ” 

« But, sir, I do not think that it will be at all necessary. I expect 
my brother at any minute, now,” returned Nell, with a cool hauteur, 
meant to be freezing. 

Nell had heard of the villainous sharks of the great city, who lie in 
wait for unsuspecting maidens, and she did not mean to be taken in by 
one of them. Mr. Sims, however, seemed to be a kind gentleman, 
and when he looked hurt at her remark she hastened to apologize for 
seeming rudeness. 

«It is not at all necessary,” said Mr. Sims, with a bland smile. Mr. 
Darrel requested me to visit the d6pot, and look after a young lady 
whom he expected on the evening train from Woodburg. I hope you 
will not distrust one who has the best interests of the great detective 
at heart.” 

Again the red-haired gentleman bowed, and looked smilingly into 
the face of the young girl. 

For the time, Nell was thrown off her guard. 

« j_I expected to meet my brother,” she articulated. “ He said 

nothing about you —a stranger — meeting me at the d£pot.” 

« Nqj an d good reason why. He did not know when he wrote that 
it would be impossible for him to get to the d£p6t. A slight acci¬ 
dent -” 

“ Accident! Dyke injured? Then let me go to him at once,” cried 
the impulsive girl, before the man could complete his sentence. 


70 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ It is not so very bad,” said Mr. Sims, as he led the way to the walk 
without, and placed his fair charge on the cushions of a hack. Giving 
low instructions to the driver, he vaulted to the side of Nell Darrel, 
and the hack rattled away. 

Nell sat flushed and silent for some minutes, her heart throbbing 
painfully. 

“ Tell me about it,” she finally said to her companion. “ How did 
it happen? ” 

“ I can’t give you the particulars, since they were not given to me,” 
answered he. “ I only know that Dyke met with a fall on the stone 
pavement, and Dr. Boneset says that his leg is broken. He is in con¬ 
siderable pain, but cheerful withal, and will be mighty glad to see Nell, 
as he calls you. ” 

Again the man smiled in the face of the girl at his side, and up to 
this time no suspicion of the truth flashed upon her brain. 

Although the hack moved rapidly, it reemed to the anxious girl a 
long time in reaching its destination. 

“Mr. Darrel is at my house,” said the gentleman, “and I live at 
least two miles from the depot. ” 

This was said to silence the growing uneasiness manifested by Miss 
Darrel. 

When at length the hack came to a halt, Mr. Sims quickly alighted 
and lifted Nell Darrel to the curb; then the hack sped swiftly into the 
night. 

Nell gazed about her with a shudder. 

The low, dingy buildings and bad smell pervading the place startled 
her. 

“ It cannot be that this is the place,” she cried, standing firm, as 
he attempted to lead her toward a door, over which glimmered a faint 
light. 

“ Oh, yes it is.” 

“ But I will not go in there. ” 

“ We’ll see about that,” he growled, suddenly lifting her in his 
arms and striding forward. 


BEATEN BACK. 


7i 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


BEATEN BACK. 


T HE moment Nell Darrel felt herself lifted from her feet she 
uttered a wild cry, which was smothered in its inception by the 
hand of her captor. 

“ Quiet, child; nobody’s going to hurt you if you behave yourself. ” 
Nell was young and vigorous, and she made a desperate struggle fo 1 
liberty. It was with the utmost difficulty that the man made his way 
to the room occupied by Mrs. Scarlet. 

“ Bring the chloroform,” said the villain. “We can’t do anything 
with the girl without it.” 

“ I’ll fix her ! ” answered the woman, in a voice that sent a shudder 
to the heart of poor Nell. 

Then a subtle fume filled the girl’s nostrils, and soon her senses 
faded out upon a sea of nothingness—her troubles were over for the 
time. 

Then the man, who was none other than Professor Ruggles, bore 
his insensible burden after the steps of Mrs. Scarlet, to a room in a 
gloomy basement beneath the building. 

As we have before remarked, it was in a disreputable part of the 
city, and it was not likely that the friends of the fair Nell would look 
in such a quarter for her. 

“ Now, then,” said Professor Ruggles, when the twain were once 
more in the room above, “ I shall hold you responsible for the girl’s 
safekeeping, Mrs. Scarlet.” 

“ I’m ready to do my part,” answered the woman. “ How long will 
you keep her here ? ” 

“ As long as suits my purpose. I am not sure. I may conclude to 
wa ; t until Dyke Darrel is put off the trail before I take the girl to 
Gotham; that city will be my ultimate destination. I must leave 
you now, my dear, but I shall call to-morrow and see how my girl is 
getting on. ” 

He turned then as if about to depart. 

“ See here Professor! ” 

« Eh? ” 

He faced about once more. 

“ Haven’t you forgotten something? ” 

“ 1 think not. ” 

“ The girl must eat 1” 

“ Certainly. ” 

“And do you imagine / am going to pay the bill?” demanded the 
woman, tartly. 


72 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ Well, I had forgotten that a little of the root of evil was neces¬ 
sary in your case. ” 

A smile, deepening into a disagreeable laugh, followed, as Professor 
Ruggles laid a greenback in the hand of his tool. 

A moment later hi was gone. 

As the door closed on his retreating form, tne countenance of 
Madge Scarlet underwent a change. The wrinkled face flushed with 
wrath, and the skinny hands were raised on high. 

“ Professor Ruggles, you may have successfully duped the girl, but 
you cannot make one of me. I canVead you like a book, and it may 
be that I shall conclude not to permit you to have your way in this 
matter. Through this girl I shall be able to wring the heart of the 
man I hate, and I mean to do it. Ah ! Dyke Darrel, venomous 
scoundrel! The hour of my revenge draws nigh! I shall willingly 
cast my soul into Hades for this one drop of satisfaction.” 

There was an awful glitter in the woman’s eyes at the last, and ner 
fierce emotions caused her frame to tremble visibly. 

In the meantime, how fared it with poor Nell Darrel, who had gone 
thus blindly to her doom? She did not awake from the stupor caused 
by the chloroform, until another day had dawned upon the world, 
although but little light was permitted to find its way into this under¬ 
ground apartment, whose stone walls were damp with ooze, and from 
whence no voice could penetrate to the busy world above. 

A faint light entered the place from between iron bars that spanned 
a narrow window, far above the head of little Nell Darrel. 

The only furniture in this cellar was a straw cot, on which Nell had 
been laid, and a low stool. The girl felt terribly sick and weak when 
she came to realize her condition. 

She could understand now the truth, when too late, that she had 
been enticed from home by a villain, and naturally enough her thoughts 
reverted to Harper Elliston. 

Yet, why should she think of that man? Surely he was not wicked 
enough to stoop to anything of this kind. 

Nell was not to be left long in suspense, however. The door to her 
prison creaked on its hinges, and a man entered and stood confront¬ 
ing her in the gray light. 

It was Harper Elliston. 

There was a smile on his sinister countenance, and he stroked his 
beard with the coolest insolence imaginable. 

“ How do you find yourself this morning, my dear? ” questioned 
Elliston in a low voice. 

“ This is your work, villain! ” 

“ Hush; don’t speak in such a harsh tone, Nell,” answered Mr. 


BEATEN BACK. 


73 


Elliston, with a deprecatory wave of the hand. “ I cannot permit 
you to impugn my motive, Miss Darrel. I claim that all is fair in love 
and war. You know from repeated assurances on my part that I love 
you; once I wished to make you my wife. Blame me not if I have 
changed my mind on that score; it is you who have driven me to it. 
Nevertheless, I am constrained to deal justly and kindly with you, my 
girl, and again offer to share my New York palace with you. Could 
anything be more generous? ” 

The infamy of his proposition roused all the fire in the nature of Nell 
Darrel. 

“ Harper Elliston, how dare you insult me in this way? Do you 
imagine that I would for one moment countenance anything so base? 
You have missed your mark if you imagine you can frighten me into 
consenting to my own ruin. ” 

“ It may be accomplished without your consent.” 

“ Such a look as swept his face startled the girl. The hideous 
nature of the man was now revealed in all its naked deformity. She 
shrank from him as she would have shrunk from a venomous serpent. 

He continued to smile and stroke his glossy beard. 

“ You see how it is, my dear,” he proceeded. “ The wisest thing 
you can do is to submit to the inevitable. ” 

He advanced as he spoke. 

She recoiled with a shudder of wild alarm. 

“Back, scoundrel! Do not touch me!” she cried, warningly P an 
indignant, perhaps dangerous, fire blazing in her eye. 

Again the demon laughed. 

“ You seem to take my love-making hard, Miss Darrel.” 

“ Not another step,” warned Nell. 

“ Ho! ho! ho! Would you try to frighten me? You can’t do that, 
I’ve tamed more than one such as you. Come, be sensible, and let 
me have one kiss at least. ” 

Again he advanced. 

Click! 

Harper Elliston uttered a low yet startled cr" and shrank Jback in 
alarm. 

A cocked derringer gleamed in the hand of Nell Darrel, and the 
open muzzle was pointed at his breast. 

This was as disagreeable as it was unexpected. 

A low-muttered oath fell from the lips of the baffled villain. 

“ Girl, have a care, that weapon may go off,” he cried, in a voice 
husky with disappointment and rage. 

“It will go off if you do not depart at once,” she answered, wkh 
all the sternness she was able to muster. 


74 


DYKE DARREL. 


** Hand that pistol to me. ” 

“ Never! Its contents you will get if you dare advance another 
step.” 

Harper Elliston realized that he was baffled for the present. He 
had never suspected the presence of a weapon on the person of Nell 
Darrel, else he would have disarmed her at the outset. 

After a moment of hesitancy the villain turned and strode from the 
place. When Nell attempted to follow she was confronted by a solid 
oak door that Elliston had quickly closed and locked behind him. 

With a low moan Nell retreated arid sank weak and trembling on 
the miserable cot, and for the next few minutes gave free rein to her 
alarm in tears. 

In the meantime Elliston hurried above, and confronted Madge 
Scarlet with a terrible frown on his brow. 

“ You and that red-headed Professor have played a smart trick on 
me, old woman, a mighty smart trick ; but let me tell you it won’t go 
down for a cent. I don’t like it much, neither.” 

“Eh? I don’t understand,” said Mrs. Scarlet. 

“ I’ll make you understand,” and Elliston advanced angrily upon 
the woman, and raised his hand. 

“ Strike if you dare! ” 

She looked ugly at that moment. 

“You’re just capable of strikin’ a woman,” sneered Madge Scarlet. 
“ I’ve seen such critters before. God never meant them for men, 
however.” 

Mr. Elliston held his hand. He saw that he had come near 
making a mistake. 

“ Forgive me, Mrs. Scarlet,” he said in a subdued voice. “ I was 
beside myself, buX I had reason to be. Do you know that Nell Darrel 
is armed? ” 

“No.” 

“ She is, nevertheless, with a pistol. She’s a perfect tigress, and 
would as soon shoot me as not. I shall leave it for you to get the 
weapon from her. ” 

“ I can do it easy enough. ” 

“ I hope so. To-night I will have more definite plans. I may con¬ 
clude to take the girl away then. ” 

Mr. Elliston passed from the room. He had been gone but a few 
minutes when another person entered—Nick Brower, the tool and 
friend of Mrs. Scarlet and the Professor. 

“ Well, what’s the news, Nick. My nephew is still in duraxur 

vile?” 


THE DETECTIVE FOOLED. 75 

“Yes,” answered the low ruffian,” and what’s more, Dyke Darrel, 
the detective, is in Chicago! ” 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DETECTIVE FOOLED. 

T WO men met unexpectedly in one of the hotel corridors of the 
great city; two hands went out, and* 

“ How are you, Harry? ” 

“ How are you, Dyke, old boy? ” 

“ When did you leave St. Louis? ” 

This from the detective. 

“ Not long since. I am confident that our game is in this vicinity. 
I meant to come down to Woodburg soon, and consult with you. I 
sent a telegram, but it brought no answer from you.” 

“ I wasn’t at home. It was placed in my hands yesterday.” 

“ And that is why you are here? ” 

“ Not wholly.” 

There was a gloomy look on the face of the detective, not natural 
to it, and young Bernard knew that something had gone decidedly 
wrong with his detective friend. 

“ It is about Nell,” said Dyke Darrel, when questioned. “ She came 
to the city last evening, in answer to a letter purporting to come from 
me. The letter was a decoy from some villain, and I fear that Nell 
has met with a terrible fate. ” 

A groan came at the last. 

Harry Bernard’s face blanched, and he, too, seemed excited and 
deeply moved. The keen eyes of Dyke Darrel noticed the young 
man’s emotion, and he felt a suspicion growing stronger each moment. 

“ Nell in the city — decoyed!” exclaimed Harry at length. “ Great 
heaven! Dyke, this is awful! ” 

“It is.” 

Then the detective laid his hand on the young man’s shoulder, and 
piercing him with a stern look, said in an awful voice: 

“ Harry Bernard, on your honor as a man, what do you know of this 
enticing of Nell to the city? ” 

“ What do I know? ” 

“ Yes; what do you know? ” 

There was a stern ring in the detective’s voice, not to be mistaken. 
“ I know only what you have just told me, Dyke.” 

“ This is the truth? ” 


7 6 


DYKE DARREL. 


** Good heaven! Dyke Darrel, do you imagine that I had aught to 
do with enticing your sister to this wicked city? My soul! You do 
not understand the feeling that animates my heart for Nell Darrel. I 
hope you will not insult me again with a suspicion so haggard and 
awful.” 

The hurt look resting on the face of the young amateur detective 
was sufficient to convince Dyke Darrel that Harry Bernard spoke the 
truth, and this knowledge only increased his uneasiness. 

“•I am fearful some terrible ill has befallen Nell,” groaned Dyke. 

“ My friend,” said Harry, “we must let all other matters rest until 
we find the girl. I have a suspicion that may lead to something 
definite. Let me tell you now, that during the past year you have 
warmed a serpent in your bosom in the person of Harper Elliston. I 
have never, until now, dared make this assertion in your presence, 
knowing as I did the great respect you had for the oily-tongued fel¬ 
low. The time for plain speaking has come, however.” 

“ I shall take no offense. ” 

“ No! I am glad to hear you say that. Come to my room, Dyke, 
and I will tell you something that may open your eyes a little.” 

The detective complied, and when they were seated Harry poured 
out his confidence. 

“ I am glad you have been thus frank with me, Harry,” said the 
detective when his friend had finished. “ I have heard enough of late 
to convince me that Elliston is a wolf in sheep’s clothing! ” 

“ And that is one point gained. ” 

“It is.” 

“ And I believe that it was Elliston who penned the decoy letter. ” 

“ I am more than half convinced that such is the case,” admitted 
Dyke Darrel. 

“ Have you investigated? ” 

“ Thoroughly, since I came into town. I learned that Nell got off 
at the depot, and that she met a red-haired man, and entered a hack 
with him. After that all is blank. ” 

“ That confirms my suspicions, Dyke. ” 

“ What is that? ” 

This man with the florid looks meeting Nell, and going away from 
the d£p6t in her company Professor Ruggles, is a friend of Ellis 
ton’s.” 

“ Indeed!” 

“It is true. I believe before another day passes, the place of the 
girl’s seclusion can be found. Down on Clark street is Mother Scarlet’s 
place, a played-out old hag, and she has been hand and glove with 
this red-haired man for some time. ” 


THE DETECTIVE FOOLED. 


77 


“ Mother Scarlet! ” exclaimed the detective. “ I have met her; she 
is the aunt of the Martin Skidway who is now serving out the remain¬ 
der of his term for counterfeiting.” 

« The same, I suppose. I move that we visit her den, and see whal 
we can find. ” 

“Agreed. Le* us go at once.” 

Dyke Darrel came to his feet. 

“ One moment, Dyke. ” 

« Well. ” 

“ You are too well known by the crooks of this city to move about 
without disguise. ” 

“ I will fix that. I will meet you again in an hour.” 

And then Dyke Darrel hurried away. 

It was almost dark when two men, one old and gray, with a hum| 
on his shoulder, called at a dingy old brick on Clark street and rapped 
on a narrow door that opened into an alley. 

No answer was vouchsafed. 

Then the old man turned the knob, but the door refused to yield. 

“ What’s wanted, you fellers ?'” 

The voice came from behind the two men. Turning, they saw a 
stout, ill-looking fellow, with unkempt hair and beard, peering in at 
them from the street. 

« Ain’t this the housen where Mrs. Scarlet stops,” questioned the 
elderly man. 

“ Mebbe ’tis. ” 

“ Where’s the woman now? ” 

« Bless your soul, old man, I don’t know. Better call agin; she’s 
alius in evenings,” suggested the man at the edge of the street. 

“ Mebbe we had,” grunted the old man at the door. Then he and 
his companion moved out of the alley. They went but a little way 
when they came to a full stop, and entered into a iow confab. 

A pair of keen eyes was watching them during the time, however, 
and a little later the man who had addressed the two strangers walked 
away. He passed to the rear of the block, and made his way by a 
back stairs to a room on the first floor. Here he found the one he 
was seeking —Mrs. Scarlet —who was engaged in discussing a supper 
of bread and beer. 

She was alone. 

“ Eh? so you’re here again, Nick? Did he send ye? ” 

“ The Professor? ” 

“ Who else should I mean? ” 

« Wall, he didn’t, then. I seed a couple of blokes in the alley jiaft 
now, and they ’quired for you. ” 


78 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ Why didn’t you send ’em up? ” and the woman laughed in a way 
that revealed her ragged teeth and unwholesome gums. 

“ They’ll be back soon ’nough,” answered the man. “ I’ve an idee 
they mean mischief. Better you go below and see ’em when they do 
come.” 

“ All right. ” 

About an hour after darkness had settled, while Madge Scarlet sat 
in the lower room, the one m which we have so many times met her, 
the door was unceremoniously opened, and a man crossed the 
threshold. 

An old man he was, with bent form and white hair, a hump disfig¬ 
uring his shoulder, his trembling right hand resting on the top of a 
cane. 

“ Good evening, mistress. ” 

The old man, who had closed the door sharply to behind him, sank 
to a rickety chair as he uttered the greeting. 

“ I don’t know you,” retorted Madge Scarlet sharply. “ Haven’t 
you got into the wrong house? ” 

“ Well, I dunno,” whined the man in a sharp falsetto voice. “C 
reckon if you’re Mistress Scarlet, you’re the one I’m to see.” 

“ I’m not ashamed to own to the name, old man. Let’s have "your 
business at once. ” 

“ I’m pretty much broke up since I came out of the bastile,” said 
the old man. “ ’Taint jest the place for a gentleman, I can tell you 
that. It’s mighty down-settin’ on one’s pride, which I had a heap of 
afore I was sent to abide there. ” 

“ Who are you, and what are you driving at? ” 

Mrs. Scarlet asked the question with a puzzled stare. She was 
possessed of a very suspicious nature, and she was qot ready to accept 
a person on outward appearance alone. 

“ I’m William Sugg, from Missoury,” the old man answered prompt¬ 
ly. “ I came all the way to Shecargo to see the aunt of a friend. 
Mebbe you’ll understand when I tell you, that Martin Skidway was 
one of the best friends'an old man like me had in the bastile.” 

The name of her nephew opened the way to Madge Scarlet’s heart 
at once. 

She questioned Mr. Sugg about the young man, and he answered 
her with the assurance that they had been inmates of the same prison, 
and that Martin was losing flesh rapidly from melancholy. 

“ It’s the doings of that devil, Dyke Darrel,” cried Mrs. Scarlet, 
losing her temper at thought of her troubles. 

“ I’ve kind o’ thought, bein’ as I was in Shecargy, I’d look up a 




rHE DETECTIVE FOOLED. 79 

boardin’ place and stay a spell I’ve heerd that you have rooms to 
rent ? ” 

“ I have, to the right ones. ” 

“ Will you show me some ? ” 

“ Certainly. ” 

Mrs. Scarlet rose and lifted a lamp from the table. 

“Come this way.” 

As the woman led the way through a back door, into another apart* 
ment, a pair of strong hands suddenly seized and held her fast, while 
a voice hissed in her ear! 

“Not a sound or you die!” 

It was a startling situation. 

“I am here for a purpose,” said the old man, a sudden change in 
his voice. “ I want you to lead me to the room in which Nell Darrel 
is confined. ” 

The man’s hands fell from the woman’s shoulders, and when she 
turned about, she found that he had her covered with a revolver. 

His voice sounded familiar. 

“ You’re the detective, Dyke Darrel? ” 

“ It matters not. Show me the way to the room where you have 
Nell [Darrel imprisoned,” uttered the man in a stern voice. 

The menacing revolver decided the woman. The old building had 
been arranged for emergencies of this kind, as the sequel will show. A 
strange glitter came to the eyes of Mrs. Scarlet as she said: 

“ Who told you that Nell Darrel was in this house? ” 

“It matters not. Lead the way at once, or it will be the worse for 
you.” 

“ You dare not harm me.” 

“ I’ll show you, if you attempt to play me false. A dozen police¬ 
men have their eyes on this building at this moment. ” 

“ Come on. ” 

The woman turned and walked forward. She passed into a hall, 
and halting at a side door, unlocked it and pushed it open. 

“ In there. ” 

“ Go on. You shall keep me company. ” 

Mrs. Scarlet advanced, closely followed by the detective. 

The moment he crossed the threshold the door closed behind him, 
and the lamp was extinguished, leaving everything in total darkness. 
Then the detective felt the floor give way, and he was precipitated to 
his doom, the last sound reaching his ears being a mocking laugh from 
Aunt Scarlet. 


Dyke Darrel 6. 


So 


DYKE DARREL 


CHAPTER XX. 


OVERMATCHED BY A GIRL. 


fTT LOW chuckle fell from the lips of Madge Scarlet. 

“ I reckon you’ve met your match this time, Dyke Darrel. 
I will now enjoy the sweetest revenge; it will be like honey to my 
blistered tongue. You’ve done your last shadowing of your betters. 
Dan’l, husband, you shall be avenged before to-morrow’s sun rises 
over Chicago.” 

Lighting her lamp, the woman fiend bent down and peered through 
a square opening in the floor to the depths below. It was too far 
down for the rays of light to penetrate, but she could well imagine 
that a mangled form lay directly below on the stone floor. 

A faint groan reached her ears. 

“ Ha! he’s coming to his senses. I must see that he'don’tjoutwit 
Aunt Madge yet. ” 

Then replacing the trap, the woman left the place, and a little later 
descended a narrow stairs and entered the room beneath the trap. 

There on the stone floor lay the pretended old man, gasping in pain, 
yet not able to help himself. 

Quickly Madge Scarlet bent over the prostrate and helpless victim 
of her cunning, and began binding his limbs with a stout cord that she 
had brought with her for the purpose. 

In a little time the work was completed, and Mrs. Scarlet stood up 
with her arms akimbo viewing her work, a satisfied smile playing 
about the toothless lips. 

“ I’ll peel you, so’t there’ll be no deception hereafter,” muttered the 
she fiend; and suiting actions to words, she tore the disguise from the 
detective’s head and face and flung" it aside. “ Thought to fool the 
old woman, eh? " 

A curdling laugh followed. 

After gloating over the detective for some time, Madge Scarlet 
picked up her lamp and turned away, a feeling of intense satisfaction 
in her heart at the knowledge that she had her enemies so completely 
at her mercy. It was satisfaction for one day at least. 

The woman passed through two basement rooms, unlocking and 
locking doors, until she at length stood in the presence of Nell Darrel. 

“I ain’t here with supper, madam,” sneered the woman, as Nell 
started up and approached her. “ You’re not to have a mouthful to 
eat jest at present; that’s the compliments your husband sends.” 

But Nell did not seem to appreciate the gross wit of her keeper. 

“ I am not hungry, woman, but I appeal to you to permit me to go 
from this place. I shall die here in a short time. ” 


OVERMATCHED BY A GIRL. 


8l 


“ Die then! Nothing would please me better than to witness your 
last struggles,” and Mrs. Scarlet emitted a laugh that was horrible to 
hear. 

Nell had much of the determined spirit of her daring brother in her 
composition. She was not yet ready to give up all hope and fall 
crushed in despair. Her right hand grasped the butt of the little der¬ 
ringer she had been thoughtful enough to provide herself with before 
leaving home. 

“ Will nothing move you, woman? ” 

“ Nothing,” sneered Mrs. Scarlet. “ Your brother sent my husband 
to a dungeon, and to his death, and for that and other wicked work of 
his, I mean to be avenged. I shall cause him to suffer through his 
sister. You imagine the handsome Elliston a monster, I reckon, but 
I will show you that he is but a child compared to Madge Scarlet.” 

“ Stop; I do not care to listen to you. Please hand over the keys 
to this den of demons. ” 

A cocked pistol was brought forward to emphasize the fair prison¬ 
er’s demand. 

A sneering laugh answered the girl’s demand. Madge Scarlet did 
not seem to look upon the weapon as a dangerous one. 

“Quick! I have no time to parley. Fling down the keys —toss 
them to the door yonder, then take your place in yonder corner. Do 
you hear me? ” 

So stern was the girl’s voice, so full of intense meaning, as to 
amaze the infamous woman who confronted her. 

“ This is all a joke-.” 

“ It will prove a dear joke to you if you don’t obey. Stop. One 
step toward me and I fire! I am in deadly earnest.” 

And the sneering Madge Scarlet realized that she was. It was a 
most humiliating position. Once the woman thought of making a 
quick spring, but a pressure of the trigger was all that was necessary 
to send a bullet on an errand of death. 

With reluctance the woman drew a bundle of keys from her pocket 
and flung them to the floor behind her, and close to the door that 
stood ajar. 

“Don’t be so spiteful. Now, then, go to that comer. Move 
quickly ! ” 

The girl still threatened her keeper with the cocked derringer, and 
she crossed the floor with a growl that was not pleasant to hear. 

“ There, that is about right.” 

Then Nell Darrel backed to the door, snatched up the bunch of 
keys and lamp, passed into the next room, securing the door just as 


6 


83 


DYKE DARREL. 


the hag from within came against it with tremendous force, at the 
same time uttering a series of the most ear-splitting yells. 

The door failed to yield, and Nell now hastened to improve her 
opportunity for escape that the carelessness of Mrs. Scarlet had given 
her. 


CHAPTER XXL 

A BOUT IN THE CELLAR. 

I T was a stout tin lamp that the fleeing girl held in her hand, and 
the blaze filled the subterranean apartment but dimly. 

She found herself in a square room, larger than the one she had 
just left. Advancing to a door she tried it, to find it locked. This 
was made to yield, however, by one of the bunch of keys, and she 
proceeded to another door that stood ajar. 

“ Help!” 

It was a smothered cry that reached the girl’s ears, and quite startled 
her. 

The sound came from the next apartment. For a minute Nell 
Darrel hesitated. She reasoned that she had nothing to fear from the 
hag who kept the place, and one who was in need of help certainly 
could not be a friend to Mrs. Scarlet, or those who profited by the 
old woman’s villainy. 

“Help!” 

Again came that cry, and Nell moved forward, pushed open the door 
and flashed her light over the scene—a room much smaller than the 
one she had just quitted. 

A dark object writhing on the floor startled her vision. 

“ Old woman, do you mean to murder me here? ” 

The man seemed to imagine that the new comer was the hag who 
kept the place. With trembling step Nell Darrel advanced and flashed 
her light into the face of a bound and helpless prisoner. 

“ Mercy! It is Dyke! ” 

Stunned at the discovery, Nell was completely overcome for the 
time, and stood with arms extended like one petrified. 

“ Nell, is it you? ” cried the yet stunned detective. ** Where is the 
old hag who rules this den of iniquity? ” 

“ Back yonder, safely locked in a room,” said Nell, when she could 
find voice. 

“And you did it? “ 

"Yes.” 

**Cot these cords, brave girl, and we will soon be out of this.* 


A BOUT IN THE CELLAR. 




Placing her lamp on a box near, Nell Darrel proceeded to comply 
with the request of her brother. She had with her a small open knife, 
and this came into play neatly enough. 

Soon the detective’s limbs were free. He found when he attempted 
to rise, that he was unable to do so. 

“ I received a bad fall,” he said, with a groan. “ Lend me a -land, 
Nell, and we will get out of this before friends of that woman jome 
to her rescue. ” 

Nell assisted her brother to his feet. He groaned with pain, fen it 
seemed to him as though every bone in his body was broken. 

“ I was a fool to run into such a trap,” he muttered. 

“ Can you walk, brother? ” 

“I can make a desperate try at any rate,” uttered the detea We, 
grimly. Then, assisted by Nell’s arm, he hobbled across the fluOi 
toward a narrow stairs that promised them passage to rooms above. 

The beard and wig were left in the cellar. 

The sound of steps on the floor overhead brought brother and sister 
to a sudden halt. 

“ Hark!” 

“ Some one is coming,” uttered Nell. 

“ It seems so. ” 

Then the sound of an opening door startled them. 

“ It’s strange that Madge has left everything in such a careless way,” 
said a masculine voice. “ Ho! Madge, where are you? ” 

“ Hold up thar, ” uttered another voice. “ I reckin the old gal know’d 
what she was doin’. Thar’s some skulduggery goin’ on down here, or 
my name ain’t Nick Browei. I seed an old bloke come in, and 9 twix.t 
me an you, Professor, it was the man you ’n me would give more to 
see out of the world than in it. ” 

« You mean Dyke Darrel, the detective? ” 

“ I couldn’t mean anybody else. ” 

“ Come on, then, let’s investigate. ” 

« Extinguish your light, Nell,” cried Dyke Darrel, in a thrilling 
whisper. ” 

The girl did so at once, but the men above flashed a light into the 
basement room, and soon steps were heard descending the stairs. 
Dyke felt over his person to discover that Mother Scarlet had been 
prudent enough to deprive him of arms. 

Nell, white as death, yet with a determined look in her eyes, 
clinched her derringer firmly, and with close-shut teeth waited the 
denouement. 

“ If we could only get under the stairs, said the detective, in a low 

voice. 


84 


DYRG DARREL. 


They made a move to carry out his suggestion, but it was too late. 

“Ha!” 

This exclamation fell from the lips of the foremost man of three 
who were descending the narrow stairs. The outcry was caused at 
seeing two forms gliding across the stone floor toward the stairs. 

“ Quick! Hold up there, or we fire!” cried a sharp voice. Then 
the three men rapidly descended to the floor and confronted Nell and 
the detective. Three revolvers weae leveled, and death literally 
stared brother and sister in the face. 

“ Caught, by the powers,” sneered lips above a massive red beard, 
and Professor Darlington Ruggles’ eyes glittered with intense satis¬ 
faction as they peered into the face of the famous railroad detective. 

Had Dyke Darrel been in the full vigor of his manly strength, and 
Nell not by to unnerve him, his chances for escape would have been 
tenfold greater. 

As it was, a terrible weakness oppressed him. His fall into the 
basement had jarred him terribly, and it was with difficulty that he 
could stand alone. The walls seemed to whirl about in a mad waltz, 
and the faces of the three villains seemed one mass of grinning 
demons. 

“ Halt!” 

Nell Darrel, white as death, yet with the fires of a resolute purpose 
blazing in her eyes, thrust forward her pistol. 

“ It’s pretty Nell on a lark ! ” exclaimed Professor Ruggles. “ It 
will be better for you not to make any resistance, for the moment 
you attempt it, that moment death will come to both of you. Be 
wise in time.” 

The Professor advanced a step. 

“ Stop there,” sternly ordered the girL 

“Aye! stop there,” repeated Dyke, in a voice husky from very 
weakness. “ We will not be taken alive. Do you know on what 
dangerous grounds you are treading? This block is surrounded by 
members of the force, and any harm offered to Nell or myself will be 
speedily avenged. ” 

A jeering laugh answered the detective. 

“ It is wrong to tell such a whopper, Mr. Darrel, especially when 
one is ot> the verge of eternity,” said Ruggles, showing his teeth. 

The situation was interesting. 

“ Will you permit us to depart from here? ” questioned the detective, 
suddenly. 

This speech brought a laugh to the lips of Darlington Ruggles. 

“ You da not seem to know me! ” he said. 

“ I kivr* that you pretend to be a professor of some sort, but l 


A BOUT IN THE CELLAR. 85 

believe that you are in disguise. I think, if you would cast aside that 
red hirsute covering, we should see-” 

“Zounds! Go for him, boys,” cried Professor Ruggles in a loud 
voice, completely drowning the faint accents of Dyke Darrel. 

The two men who kept the Professor company, made a quick move 
to seize the twain in front of them. On the instant came a flash and 
sharp report. 

One of the villains staggered and sank with JaftgroanJ^gainsf/the 
stairs. 

“ I— Pm shot 1 ” he gasped. 

“ The she jade! ” 

It was Nick Brower who uttered the hissing cry of rage, and the 
next instant the villain’s revolver flashed. 

“ My God! You have killed Nell! ” 

It was a cry expressive of the deepest agony, as the i weak and reel¬ 
ing detective caught the form of his sister in his arms, as she fell back¬ 
ward, with the blood streaming down her face. 

Poor Nell! 

She hung a dea d weight in the arms of Dyke Darrel—murdered 
by the hand of a brutal assassin. 

No wonder the bruised and almost helpless man-hunter groaned 
with inward anguish at the sight. 

He fell no easy prey into the hands of his enemies, however. 

Staggering backward, and easing his bleeding relative to the ground, 
he turned with a mad cry and dashed at the throat of Professor Dar¬ 
lington Ruggles. 

Both men staggered across the floor against the stairs. 

“ I will strangle you for this,” hissed the enraged detective. 

“ Help!” gasped Ruggles. 

Brower came to his assistance with a vengeance, and rained terrific 
blows upon the head of Dyke Darrel with the butt of his revolver. 
Soon the mad grip relaxed from the throat of Ruggles, and Dyke 
Darrel sank a bleeding and insensible mass to the floor. 

Panting and gasping, Professor Ruggles leaned against the stairs 
and gazed about him in the gloom. 

The lamp had been overturned in the struggle, and at the last, 
darkness reigned supreme. 

“ I’ve fixed him, Professor,” growled Nick Brower, in a savage 
undertone. 

« I hope so, the devil. He went for me with the venom of a tiger. 
Have you a match? ” 

“Yes.” 



DYKE DARREL. 


«* Let’s have a light. I’m afraid you have done a miserable job, 

Nick.” 

Inside of five minutes the overturned lamp was recovered and 
burning once more. Its rays revealed a ghastly scene. Two forms 
lay on the floor, Dyke Darrel and Nell, both apparently dead. 

Nick’s companion, who had screamed so lustily at the fire from 
Nell Darrel’s derringer, still leaned against the stairs seeming little 
the worse for wear. 

“ Mike, where are you hit? ” 

“ Don’t know. I felt the bullet goin’ through my brains.” 

A brief examination showed that the man had only been grazed by 
the shot from the girl’s pistol. When this discovery was made 
Professor Ruggles became very angry. 

« You made more fuss than a man shot through the neck ought to. 
The girl has been killed in consequence. Hades! this has been a 
bad evening’s work. I would rather have lost a thousand dollars 
than had Nell Darrel slain. ” 

“ She wan’t wuth no sich money,” growled Brower. 

“How do you know what she was worth, you miserable brute?” 
snarled the Professor, in an angry voice. “ I take it, that I know 
more about it than you do. ” 

“ See here, boss, aren’t you goin’ on a bin run for nothin’? Whar’d 
you be now if I hadn’t gin Dyke Darrel his quietus? Mebbe you’d 
better thank instead of curse your friend.” 

There was a deal of homely sense in the words of burly Nick 
Brower, and the prince of villains realized it. 

“I wanted the girl unharmed, Nick. If she’s dead I don’t suppose 
it can be helped, however ; she brought her fate upon herself. ” 

“ That she did, Proff. ” 

Professor Ruggles then proceeded to make an examination of the 
wound in Nell Darrel’s head. He was gratified to discover that the 
bullet had merely glanced across the girl’s skull without making a 
necessarily dangerous wound. 

“ I will take the girl out of this while you dispose of the detective,” 
said Ruggles. “ Be sure and fix him so that he will give no trouble ip 
the future.” 

“ Trust me fur thet,” answered the villain Brower. 

Then Professor Ruggles passed up the stairs with] Nell Darrel in hr 
arms, just as four men halted at the side door in the alley. 


THE EMPTY SEAT. 


*7 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE EMPTY SEAT. 


HAND shook the door as Professor Ruggles entered the room. 
J^\i He at once suspected something wrong, but cared only for his 
own safety, and so did not attempt to warn the inmates of Mrs. Scar¬ 
let’s den of their danger. 

He hurried to the rear of the block, down an upper hall, and as he 
was passing into an alley down the back stairs, the four men had burst 
in the side door and rushed into Madge Scarlet’s dingy sitting-room. 

“The beaks are out in force, it seems,” muttered Ruggles, as he 
halted for a moment on the ground to rest from his exertion. “ I hope 
Nick and that fool pard of his will finish Dyke Darrel before the cops 
get onto them. As for me, I shall turn my back on this accursed 
town the moment I am assured that Nell is out of danger. I will be 
quite secure in New York, I imagine.” 

And the red-haired villain made his escape from that building and, 
leaving his charge in an out-of-the-way alley, went forth to find a 
conveyance to take the wounded girl to a more safe retreat. He suc¬ 
ceeded in finding a hack that suited his purpose, and with his insensi¬ 
ble companion he was driven to another part of the city, on the West 
Side. Ruggles had more than one resort in the great Western metrop¬ 
olis, and after he had placed Nell in a cozy room, with an old negress 
to watch over her, he breathed easy once more. 

Nell Darrel was badly injured, and for several days she raved in 
delirium. When she came to her senses she was weak and almost 
helpless. During all this time the black tool of Darlington Ruggles 
cared for her in a most kindly manner. 

The negress had been instructed to do all in her power for the girl, 
who, the Professor assured her, was a near relative who was not wholly 
sound in mind, and this fact, combined with an accident, had brought 
on the trouble from which she was now suffering. 

« Poor little lily,” murmured the negress, in a sympathetic tone, 
when the girl was able to sit up and look about her. 

“ Where am I? ” demanded Nell. 

« Youse in good hands, chile,” answered the black woman. “ Your 
cousin says he’ll take you outen dis soon’s you can trabbel.” 

** My cousin? ” 

Nell stared at the black, seemingly honest face in wonder. Of a 
sudden the memory of the adventure in the basement on Clark street 
came to the girl as a light from a clouded sky. bhe had inaeed been 
under a cloud for a long time, and had no means of judging of the 

passage of time. 


88 


DYKE DARREL. 


What had happened during all this while? What fate had been her 
brother’s. A feeling of deepest anxiety filled the girl’s breast. Ere 
she could find voice for more words, however, the door opened and a 
man entered the room. 

A low, alarmed cry fell from the lips of Nell Darrel. 

Before her stood Harper Elliston, smiling and plucking at his 
beard, which was but a mere stubble now, he having shaved sincejshe 
had met him last. 

“Ah, Nell, you are looking bright; I trust that you feel better. 
You have been very sick. How does your head feel? ” 

For the first time the girl realized that there was a sore spot under 
her hair at the side of her head. She touched it with her hand, and 
seemed surprised. ” 

“You have forgotten, doubtless,” he said. “You were rescued 
from a band of villains nearly a fortnight since. It seems that one 
of them must have fired at you, since there was a slight wound where 
you just put your hand, that was doubtless made by a bullet. ” 

Nell Darrel was beginning to remember the scene in the cellar. 

“ I was rescued, you say? Who were the rescuers? ” 

“ Myself among others. I think you may safely acknowledge that 
you owe your life to me,” said the New Yorker coolly. 

“ And Dyke? ” questioned Nell with intense eagerness. 

“ Was saved also, but he is badly hurt, and will be laid up for a 
month or more. He is in one of the city hospitals. ” 

“ Oh, sir, I am thankful it is no worse. What have they done 
with the villains, that sleek one with the red hair and beard? ” 

“ They are all in prison., and will be brought to trial as soon'as the 
witnesses are in a condition to appear against them.” 

“ The witnesses? ” 

“ Dyke Darrel and yourself.” 

“ Can I go to Dyke? ” 

“ Hardly,” he answered with a smile. “ You could not walk, 'that 
is certain, and I am sure to attempt to ride would prove a dangerous 
experiment. I am too deeply interested in your welfare to permit 
the attempt.” 

“ But I am quite strong, I assure you,” returned Nell, rising to her 
feet onlj to sink back again with a cry of piteous weakness. 

“You see, it would not do to attempt leaving your room at 
present,” said the villain, still smiling. Besides, there is no need of it. 
Your brother is doing as well as could be expected, and he has the 
assurance that you are out of danger, which has proved a great com¬ 
fort to him, I assure you. 

“ Well, I suppose I ought to be thankful,” sighed Nell, with tears 


THE EMPTY SEAT. 


«9 


( 


in her dark eyes. “ I cannot understand it all just now. It seems 
strange that I should be subject to such treatment. Do you know 
the man Sims? ’* 

“ Sims? ” 

“ The one with the red beard and hair. He met me at the d6pol.* 
“ Exactly. I cannot say that I know the fellow, but I suspect he is 
a scoundrel of the first water. Don’t bother your head about these 
things now, Nell. Try and get rested and strong, so that you can get 
from here and back to your own home as soon as possible. I hope 
you do not fear to trust me? ” 

He eyed her keenly at the last. 

She was too weak to fully realize the enormity of this man’s offense 
She knew nothing of his connection with the ruffians who made o 
Mrs. Scarlet’s building a rendezvous; she only knew that he had been 
indiscreet and insulting once, when in liquor, but of this he might 
have repented long since. At any rate, he seemed to be doing her a 
good turn now, and she could do no other way than trust him. 

“ I am still puzzled about one thing,” she said, seeming to forget 
the question he had propounded 
“ What is that?” asked Elliston. 

“ Why was I brought here? ” 

11 Simply because you were not able to ^e taken home.” 

“ But the hospital-- ” 

“ Was no place for a lady. I realized that you needed the best of 
care, and knowing Aunt Venus was a kind, motherly soul, an excellent 
nurse, even though she had a black skin, I brought you here.” 

“ And here I’ve been — how long? ” 

“ About fourteen days.” 

“ So long? ” 

“Youare surprised? l * 

“ It doesn’t seem a day.” 

“ I suppose not. You haven’t been in your right mind any of the 
time. Have you any word to send to Dyke? ” 

“ Are you going to him soon? ” 

“ Immediately. I call at the hospital every day to inquire after the 
dear boy, and I haven’t been there this morning.” 

His voice was gentle, and there was a moist light in his dark eyes 
It was barely possible that she had wronged the New Yorker, and the 
thought caused a pang. In the time to come she would confess her 
obligations, but now she was not in a mood for it. 

“ If I could write a line it would do him more good than aughr 
else,” said Nell. 

“ Can you control your hand? ” 


90 


DYKE DARREL. 


“ Oh, yes, easily, ” 

“ Then you shall write the dear boy. As you say, it will be of 
immense benefit to him.” 

Mr. Elliston drew forth from an inner pocket a book. Opening it 
he tore out a leaf and placed it, with pencil, in the lap of the invalid 
girl. It was not without difficulty that she controlled her hand suffi¬ 
ciently to write. 

Taking the folded note Elliston bade her good morning and passed 
from the room. The moment he gained the street he tore the bit of 
paper to fragments, a smile glinting over his face meantime. 

“So much for that,” he muttered. “Nell is about in the right 
trim for removal, and I must not delay another day. Simple little 
thing ! She believed every word that I told her regarding the out¬ 
come of that racket on Clark street. What an opinion she would 
have of me if she knew the exact truth. I must get me to Gotham 
immediately. My funds are running low, and she must replenish 
them. I haven’t seen Aunt Scarlet since the racket. I hope she got 
her quietus. I believe I have had quite enough of her disinterested 
assistance ; quite enough of it. ” 

And yet the scheming gentleman was to receive more of the Clark 
street hag’s assistance in the future, and in a way that was not just 
exactly pleasant, than he imagined. 

* * * * * * * 

Night hung its sable mantle over the earth. A silver moon rode in 
a clear sky, and the lightning express rattled down through the night 
with a hiss and screech that rent the silence with an uncanny sound. 

The train was speeding through the Empire State, and when 
morning dawned, with no accident happening, it would come thun¬ 
dering into the great city by the sea. 

Two persons occupying a seat in the car next the sleeper merit our 
attention. One is a» heavily-veiled lady, apparently sleeping, since 
her head reclines against the back of the seat, and a low breathing is 
heard, or might be but for the noise made by the train rattling over 
the steel rails. 

Who is the woman ? 

No need to ask when we note the fact that the man sitting there 
possesses red hair and beard —the irrepressible Professor Darlington 
Ruggles, of Chicago. He has been eminently successful thus far in 
his plot for the safe abduction of Nell Darrel. Under the influence of 
a powerful drug he conveyed her to the station, and set out .on the 
previous day for the East. 

His companion was an invalid sister, who was in a comatose state a 
portion of the time as the result of her ill health. This was the story 


THE EMPTY SEAT. 


91 


told by the Professor to inquisitive people, and the truth did not come 
to the surface. Travelers, who become accustomed to seeing all sorts 
of people, are not often suspicious. 

The villain was more successful than he could have hoped. Within 
a few hours he would be in New York, and then he felt that he could 
bid defiance to pursuit. 

It was now past midnight. The man from Chicago felt a deep 
drowsiness stealing over him. He wished to shake it off, and so, rising 
and seeing only people in an unconscious state about him, he concluded 
to go into the smoking-car and enjoy a cigar. He began to feel nerv¬ 
ous, and such a stimulant seemed absolutely necessary. 

The train drew into a station, paused less than a minute, and then 
went swiftly on its way. 

Calmly the scheming villain sat and puffed at his cigar until it was 
more than half consumed, then he tossed the stump through the open 
window, and once more he passed into the other car. 

When he gained the sea he had lately occupied, he could not sup¬ 
press a cry of startled wonder. 

The seat was empty! 

He had left Nell Darrel there not more than twenty minutes since, 
drugged into complete insensibility. She could not have gone from the 
sea t of her own volition. 

An indefinable thrill of fear stole over the stalwart frame of Pro¬ 
fessor Darlington Ruggles. He glanced up and down the car; the 
girl was not in sight. But one person was awake, an old man, who 
said: 

“ Lookin’ fur the young lady? ” 

The Professor nodde ’ 

“ She got off’t last station.” 

“ Got off? How-” 

« She had help, of course,” explained the old passenger, quickly. 

« Who helped her?“ cried Ruggles, in a husky voice. 

« An old woman, who got on and off at the last station quick’s wink. 


92 


DYKE DARREL. 


CHAPTER XXIII.. 


DYKE DARREL ON THE TRAIL. 


T HE men who burst into Aunt Scarlet’s room on the night that 
Professor Ruggles departed from the block with Nell Darrel in 
his arms, were men of determination and friends of the detective, who 
had gone into the building in the disguise of an old man, for the pur¬ 
pose of investigating. 

How the investigation came out the reader has been already informed. 
The report of pistols had warned Harry Bernard, the boy Paul 
Ender, and two officers in their company, that something of an inter¬ 
esting nature was going on in the basement of the Scarlet block. 

“ Dyke is in difficulty, that is sure,” cried Harry, in an excited voice. 
“ We must get inside at once. ” 

They tried the side door, to find it locked. It was through this door 
that they had seen the bold detective disappear, and it was in the same 
direction that the four men proposed to go in search of their daring 
friend. 

The room was in darkness, but Paul soon had the rays of a dark 
lantern flashing about the place. 

“ Let us move with caution,” said Harry, taking the lead, and en¬ 
tering the hall through the doorway which Ruggles, in his hasty 
flight, had left open. Soon voices greeted them from the basement, 
and a light glimmered through a half-open door at the head of the 
stairs. 

“ If we could only put him under down here,” said a voice, which 
the reader will recognize as that of Nick Brower, the villainous ac¬ 
complice of Professor Ruggles from the opening of our story. 

“ Wal, I reckin we kin,” said the villainous companion of Brower. 
As he spoke, he went to the side of the fallen man-hunter, and placed 
the point of a knife against his throat. 

“ What now, pard? 

“ Dead men tell no tales, Nick,” 

“ True. Senddt home-” 

Spang ! 

The sharp report of a revolver wake the echoes once more. The 
knife dropped from the nerveless grasp of the would-be assassin, and 
with a howl of pain he began dancing an Irish jig on the stone floor 
of the cellar. 

Nick Brower whirled instantly, snatched a revolver from his hip,’ 
to find that four glittering bulldogs confronted him from the stairs. 

“ Drop that weapon, or we will drop you I ” thundered Harry Ber¬ 
nard in a stern voice. 


DYKE DARREL ON THE TRAIL. 


93 


** Trapped! ” cried Brower, in a despairing voice. 

Then the four men moved down into the cellar and secured Brower 
and his companion. 

“We have made a good haul, said one of the police officers who 
accompanied Bernard and Paul, who recognized in Brower an old 
offender. 

Harry Bernard bent quickly and anxiously over the prostrate 
detective. 

“ My soul!” uttered the young man, “ the villains hwe killed poor 
Darrel, I do believe. ” 

But the young man’s belief was unfounded, since some time later 
Dyke Darrel came to his senses. He was in a bad condition, how¬ 
ever, and those who saw him predicted that the detective had followed 
his last trail. A search of the building brought to light Madge Scarlet, 
who was fuming angrily over her imprisonment. 

“ How did this happen? ” demanded Bernard, sternly, when he 
came to question the hag. She was sullen, however, and refused to 
answer. 

“ I imagine there is a way to bring your tongue into working order,” 
said Bernard, in a stern voice. 

“ I keep a respectable house, sir; you can’t harm me.” 

“ We’ll see about that.” 

“ Did you find any one? ” questioned the jezabel in an apparently 
careless tone. 

“ We have two of your friends in limbo,” returned Harry. “ You 
will find it no holiday affair to keep a house for the purpose of mur¬ 
der and robbery. Never mind, you need say nothing, for it will not 
better matters in the least. Come; ” and Harry Bernard led the old 
woman from the cellar. 

A patrol wagon bore the prisoners to the lock-up, and Bernard had 
Dyke Darrel taken to a private hospital, where he could have the best 
of care. It was some days, however, before the badly battered 
detective came to his senses sufficiently to converse on the subject of 
the racket in the building on Clark street. 

« My soul! Harry, has nothing been discovered of poor Nell? — was 
she killed?” questioned the wounded man in a voice wrung with 
anguish. 

«I don’t think Nell was mortally hurt,” returned Bernard in a re¬ 
assuring tone, although he hardly felt hopeful himself. If she was, 
why should the villains have taken her away, or the villain rather, 
since, from your account, I judge that but one of them escaped, and 
he the man with the red hair.” 


74 


DYKE DARREL. 


u Yes, he seemed the chief scoundrel among them. I heard him 
called Professor Ruggles.” 

He is about as much a professor as I am,” answered Bernard. 

“ He is the man we want for that midnight crime on the express 
train. I have evidence enough now, Dyke, to prove that this man is 
the guilty principal, and I also believe that one of his accomplices is 
now in prison.” 

“ Indeed!” 

And then the detective groaned in anguish of spirit and of body. 
It was hard to lay here, helpless as a child, while the fate of Nell was 
uncertain, and there was so much need for a keen detective to be 
afloat. Harry realized how his friend suffered, and soothed him as 
best he could. 

“ Leave no stone unturned to find her, Harry,” urged the detect¬ 
ive. “ If you do find and save her, great shall be your reward. If 
she is dead, then I will see about avenging the deed.” 

“ And in that you will not be alone,” assured Harry Bernard, a 
moist light glittering in his eye. Even Dyke Darrel did not suspect 
how deeply his young friend was interested in the fate of Nell. 

The days dragged into weeks ere Dyke Darrel was able to be on his 
feet again. He was not very strong when he once more took it upon 
himself to hunt down the scoundrels who had wrecked his happy 
home. Even the railroad crime was forgotten for the time, so intense 
was his interest centered in the fate of his sister. If not dead, Dyke 
Darrel believed she had met with a far worse fate, and it was this 
thought that nerved him to think of doing desperate work should the 
cruel abductor ever come before him. 

Madge Scarlet was dismissed after an examination, but Nick Brower 
and his companion were held to await the action of a higher court. 

One morning the pallid man in brown suit who had haunted the 
various depots of the city for several days made a discovery. On one 
of the early morning trains a man and veiled female had taken passage 
East. 

Dyke Darrel trembled with intense excitement when the d<$p6t 
policeman told him of this. 

“ Only this morning, you say? ” 

“ It was on one of the earliest trains, I believe, this morning. 

“ A New York train? ” 

“ I am not sure. I see so many people, you know. You might in¬ 
quire at the ticket office. ” 

Dyke Darrel did so. 

No ticket for New York had been sold that morning. Then the 
policeman said that it was possible he might have been mist a ke n as to 


DYKE DARREL ON THE TRAIL. 95 

the time. It might have been on the previous day he saw the man 
and his invalid sister. 

“Do you know that they took the New York train? ” questioned 
Dyke. 

“No; I’m not positive about that, either. You might telegraph 
ahead and find if such a couple is on the train.” 

This was a wise suggestion. 

Dyke acted upon it, but failed to derive any satisfaction. 

And there was good reason for this, since when leaving Chicago a 
dark man, with smooth face and gray-tinged hair, accompanied Nell 
Darrel; whereas, before reaching the borders of New York State, the 
place of this man had been taken by a man with red beard and hair, 
blue glasses, and a well-worn silk plug. 

This change disturbed identities completely. The change had been 
made at|a -way station, without causing remark among the passengers, 
the most of whom were not through for the great city. 

Once New York whelmed them, the scheming villain and poor Nell 
would be lost forever to the man-tracker of the West. 

There was a suspicion in the brain of Dyke Darrel that he scarcely 
dared whisper to his own consciousness. It was that Harper Elliston 
had a hand in the late villainy. The detective’s eyes were open at 
last, and he realized that his New York friend was not what he 
seemed. It was this fact that induced Dyke Darrel to believe that 
the abductor of Nell had turned his face toward the American metrop¬ 
olis. At once he made search for Harry Bernard and Paul Ender. 

Neither of them was he able to find, and he had not seen them for 
two days previous. 

It did not matter, however. 

Leaving word at the hotel that he had gone to New York, Dyke 
Darrel once more hastened to the depot, arriving just in time to leap 
aboard the express headed for the Atlantic seaboard. 

The train that had left four hours earlier was almost as fast as the 
one taken by the detective, so that if no accident happened to the 
earlier train, there could be little hope of running down his prey be¬ 
fore New York was reached. 

Nevertheless, Dyke Darrel preserved a hopeful heart, in spite of 
the terrible anxiety that opposed him. 

The woman who had but few days before been released from 
prison was destined to complicate matters and bring about startling 
and unexpected meetings, as &e future will reveal 

When night fell'Dyke Darrel found himself yet hundreds of miles 
from the goal of his hopes an< fears. 

Dyke Darrel 7. 


DYKE DARREL. 


96 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

A RACE FOR LIFE. 

(W s may be supposed, Professor Ruggles was deeply stunned at the 
/=\, coup de main that had deprived him of his fair charge. 

Who had robbed him? This was the question that at once sug¬ 
gested itself to his mind, and he found it not difficult to frame an 
answer, although, until this moment, he had supposed that Madge 
Scarlet was still in prison. 

“ It must be her,” he muttered, as he gazed madly at the vacant 
seat. 

“ I’m sure it was her , ” said the old man who had first spoken. “ A 
queer, wrinkled old woman, too, she was.” 

“Did she say anything? ” 

“ Not a word.” 

Mr. Ruggles passed into the next car, hoping to find Nell and the 
strange old woman there. 

He went the whole-length of the swift-moving train, only to 1* am 
that his fair captive had been spirited away completely. 

At first rage consumed the man’s senses, and he scarcely realized^the 
dangers of his position. 

“ I will not give up to such a sneak game,” he muttered at length. 
u Madge Scarlet has shadowed me for this very purpose, it seems. 
Can it be possible that the friends of Nell Darrel have employed this 
hag to rob me of my prize? I will not believe it, for it isn’t in the 
nature of Madge Scarlet to do a good action, not even'Tor pay. No; 
it is to gratify her own petty scheme of vengeance that she has st >len 
a march on me; but she will not succeed. I will get on her track * Ad 
wrest the girl from her hands. ” 

A minute later Professor Ruggles stood before the conductor. 

“ When does the next train pass going west? ” 

“ It passes Galien in an hour. ” 

“ Galien? Do you stop there? ” 

“Yes. ” 

“ Soon?” 

“ Within five minutes. ” 

When the train slowed in at the station, Professor Ruggles lefi the 
car and entered the a6pot. Here he would have to wait nearlv an 
hour before the New York train west would pass. It was a ted oua 
wait; but he could do no better. With his hand satchel clutched 
'jghtly he paced up and down like a ghost of the night. 

He was glad indeed when the train came at length thundering up to 


A RAGE FOR LIFE. 97 

the station. He had purchased a ticket for the station from which 
the abductress had boarded the cars and stolen Nell. 

With feverish blood the scheming villain sat by the window and 
watched the fleeting landscape by the light of the moon. The score 
of miles that intervened between the station seemed like a hundred to 
the anxious man who sat and glared at the trees and hills without. 

He was in extreme doubt as to his ability to cope with the cunning 
hag who had ventured so many miles to thwart him, and indulge her 
own morbid desire for revenge. 

At length the whistle sounded announcing the station. 

As the train bolted beside another train, bound in the opposite 
direction, Ruggles glanced into the car not ten feet distant, to make 
a startling discovery. 

He looked squarely into the face of Dyke Darrel, the railroad 
detective! 

Turning his head, the Professor sat quiet. The other train was 
moving, and Ruggles felt paralyzed at his discovery. Perhaps the 
detective had not noticed him. He could not understand how the 
detective had escaped death from the beating he had received in the 
basement of that building of sin on Clark street. 

His own train was moving now, and if he would get off he must be 
quick about it. 

Springing from his seat, he hastened down the aisle. 

At the open door he met Dyke Darrel face to face! The recog' 
nition was mutual. 

The train was moving rapidly out of the station. Soon it would 
be going, at full speed. 

Professor Ruggles had two incentives for leaving the train now 
— one to escape the detective, the other to find Nell and Madgi 
Scarlet. 

At first he thought of dashing upon Dyke Darrel and risking all in 
a swift rush. Second thought, induced by the gleam of a six. 
shooter in the hand of his enemy, concluded the Professor to seek 
another course. Turning, he dashed down the length of the car, with 
Darrel in hot pursuit. 

“ Halt, or I fire!” ' 

But the detective’s cry had no effect. 

The half-sleeping passengers were roused by the wonderful movg- 
ments of the two men. 

“ Madmen! ” 

“ What is the trouble? ” 

Such were the exclamations, as doors slammed, and the two sten 
swept into the next car. From coach to coach sped the pujrwied 


9 8 


DYKE DARREL. 


and the pursuer. It was a flight for life, on the part of Professor 
Ruggles. 

His plug hat flew off in the chase, and a brakeman who confronted 
him in the aisle was knocked flat with terrific force. 

“Murder!” 

And then both men disappeared from the rear platform. 

Dyke Darrel believed he had his man in a corner, when he saw 
him dash through the door at the rear of the long train. 

Not so, however. 

The desperate Ruggles was ready to do anything rather than come 
in contact with his relentless foe. He bounded clear of the train, land¬ 
ing in a soft bit of sand, sinking almost to his knees, without harming 
him in the least. 

The detective did not hesitate to follow, but he made a miscalcula¬ 
tion, owing to his bodily weakness, and instead of landing on his feet, 
he came down with stunning force across one of the rails. 

Dyke Darrel lay insensible, like one dead. 

Had his enemy came upon him then he might have finished the career 
of the daring man-hunter, without the least danger to himself. For 
once, Professor Ruggles missed it wofully. 

As the detective was ten yards behind the Professor, and the car was 
going at good speed, there was quite twenty rods difference between 
the two men when they landed. Dyke Darrel was completely hidden 
from the sight of Ruggles by a clump of trees. 

Ruggles gazed up the track, but saw nothing of his pursuer. He 
surmised that Dyke Darrel did not leap from the train, but it was 
likely he would ring the bell and stop the cars at once, so that it would 
not do to for him to remain in the vicinity unless he wished to collide 
with the detective. 

Another supposition also came to the brain of the villain, prevent¬ 
ing his search along the track. If Dyke Darrel had leaped after him, 
what more natural than his hiding in the clump of timber for the pur¬ 
pose of pouncing upon him when he came up the road. 

“ I’ll not risk it,” muttered Ruggles. “ I’ve other fish to fry just 
now than looking after detectives. I must find that hag, Madge 
Scarlet, and get my hands once more on Nell Darrel.” 

Then Mr. Ruggles turned his steps in the direction of the station. 
Already daylight was dawning, and Professor Ruggles was almost 
beside himself with anxiety. He cursed the woman who had made it 
necessary for him to leave the train so many miles outside of Gotham. 
Such a change in the programme might result fatally to himself. Dyke 
Darrel was hot on the trail now, and it would require the best effort? 
of a desperate man to throw him off the scent. 


A RACE FOR LIFE. 


99 


The man with the sunset hair was desperate enough. With hurried 
steps he made his way to the depot. The agent was just shutting up. 

“No train, save a way-freight, will be along till night,” he said, in 
answer to a question from the gentleman with the' red locks. Ruggles 
had taken the precaution to provide himself with a cap from his satchel 
before presenting himself to the man on duty at the d£pot. 

«One question,” said Ruggles, as the man was about to ’walk 
away. 

“ Well ? ” 

« Did any passengers get off here some hours since from the New 
York train east? ” 

« No.” 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“ None came into the d£p6t, at any rate,” said the man. 

“ Any passengers get on? ” 

“ Several. ” 

“ Among them an old woman? ” 

“ I saw no woman.” 

“ You are sure? ” 

“Of course I am.” 

Ruggles was disappointed. Could it be possible that he had been 
led on a fool’s errand after all, and that Madge Scarlet, with her prize, 
had been concealed on the train, and continued on to New York? 
The thought was intolerable. 

In the meantime, how fared it with Dyke Darrel, who lay stunned 
and bleeding across the railroad track. 

It was almost sun-up before he opened his eyes and groaned. His 
bed was a hard one, and it seemed as though every bone in his body 
was broken. The fact was, he was yet sore from his serious fall 
through the trap into the basement on Clark street, consequently it 
is little wonder he was badly demoralized, both in mind and body, at 
his last mishap. 

Presently a strange rumbling jar filled his ears. A bend in the 
road to the west hid the track, but the dazed brain of Dyke Darrel 
took in the situation nevertheless — a train was thundering down 
upon him. 

A minute more and he would be doomed! 

He tried to move—to roll from the track. He could not. His 
limbs seemed paralyzed. Another second and the train would be 
upon him! 


too 


DYKE DARREL, 


CHAPTER XXV. 


SAVED! 


P ROFESSOR RUGGLES had not been amiss in his judgment. 

It was Madge Scarlet who stole his victim from his arms almost 
in the hour of his devilish triumph. She did not get on the train from 
the little way station, however. She was on the train when it drew out 
of the great city by the lake, but the scheming Ruggles knew it not. 

She, too, wore a veil, and was otherwise disguised, and managed 
not to show herself to the man she had once called friend. Imme¬ 
diately on her release from jail she began to watch Ruggles, who kept 
himself out of the way, or walked the streets only in disguise. 

She haunted the dep6ts of the city, and was lucky enough to see 
him when he took passage. Quietly boarding the same train, she 
bided her time, intent on gaining possession of the detective’s sister 
for purposes of her own. 

The fires of insanity were already burning in the brain of the con¬ 
vict’s wife. 

Revenge for past wrongs seemed the sole object of her life now, 
and this was the incentive that placed her on the track of a fleeing 
villain and his intended victim. 

Madge saw Ruggles when he left the car. She watched her oppor¬ 
tunity, and lifting the partially insensible girl, bore her swiftly to the 
outside, as the train halted for a minute. 

She gave vent to a chuckle as the train went thundering on its 
course. 

She had passed from the cars on the opposite side from the d£p6t, 
and consequently was able to elude the gaze of the d£pot agent. 

Along the track she went, pausing at times to rest, until she was 
fully a mile from the station. In the shadow of a clump of trees the 
hag came to a halt and deposited her burden on the ground. 

A moan from the drugged and helpless Nell reached her ears. 

And then Mrs. Scarlet chuckled the louder. 

“ Good; she’s coming out of her bad spell. I want her to realize 
her fate, else there wouldn’t be the least bit of pleasure in my revenge.” 

Removing veil and light cloak, Mrs. Scarlet gazed down into the 
pallid face of poor Nell, with only hatred gleaming from her sunken, 
beady eyes. 

“ Ho! I’ve outwitted the master devil himself, and now I will have 
you all to myself, to deal with in a way that will cut to the quick when 
Dyke Darrel hears of it.” 

Nell had on only a light summer robe under the shawl She looked 


SAVED! 


I6i 

v*ry innocent and beautiful as she lay there under the gaze of that 
human hyena. 

“ Pretty’s a picture,” hissed the wicked Madge. “I’ll all the more 
delight in seeing you suffer. Ah! she is coming out of her stupor. 
How do you feel, dear? ” 

Nell had opened her eyes and gazed at the wicked face above her, 
in a dazed semi-consciousness. 

No answer was vouchsafed. 

Then, in looking about, the gleam of steel lines under the moon’s 
rays seemed to attract the notice of Mrs. Scarlet for the first time — 
the straight lines that marked the course of the Erie road. 

Their glitter seemed to offer a diabolical suggestion to Madge 
Scarlet. 

“Ha! I have it.” 

Springing to her feet, she laid her arms about the slender form of 
the helpless girl, and, lifting her, walked swiftly to the railway track. 
In the centre, between the rails, she deposited her burden. 

“ Revenge! sweet revenge! ” cackled the hag in a blood-curdling 
voice. 

Again the girl moved and moaned; yet she seemed unable to change 
her position. 

“ Rest yourself comfortably, my girl; you won’t be in trouble long,” 
muttered the demon woman, with a grin that was absolutely sicken¬ 
ing. 

Poor Nell! She lay quite still after that, between the fatal rails, 
only giving sign of life by a faint moan occasionally. 

Mrs. Scarlet retired to her leafy covert to wait the outcome. She 
could see far beyond the track a farm-house, and near her a heap of ties, 
and a rude fence —the moonlight revealed everything plainly. 
Chuckling with hideous satisfaction, the she demon waited the coming 
of the express that could not be far distant. Morning was already 
brightening the East. 

Far away was the sound of a moving train. The sullen, distant 
roar sent a thrill to the heart of the demon woman, who crouched in 
the bushes to await the completion of her unhallowed revenge. 

The sullen jar seemed to act like a shock of electricity on the nerves 
of Nell Darrel. She felt a strange and awful numbness. With a 
mighty effort the girl roused herself to a consciousness of her awful 
position. 

Louder and louder roared the train. It was but a mile distant now, 
and the road was straight. 

Nell raised her head, and resting on her hands gazed down the 
track where, in the distance, gleamed the light of the locomotive. 



The 


























SAVED! 


I03 

“ God help me!” moaned the poor girl. Then she tried to throw 
herself from the track, but she could not. Her limbs were numb, 
and refused to obey her will. 

A wild laugh rang out on the moonlit air. 

Madge Scarlet sprang up and glared through the bushes at her 
victim with maniacal delight. 

“ Ha! ha! You cannot escape! Them pretty limbs ’ll be crusheo 
and tom asunder! the white flesh cut and gashed, and that delicate 
body made a horrid mass of blood and mangled fragments! Theti I 
will present them to you, Dyke Darrel. Ho! ho!” 

Her voice was raised to a high pitch now, and even reached the ears 
of the startled Nell. 

No help, no hope! 

On thundered the iron monster. 

On and on till the eye of the engineer catches sight of something 
on the track — something! 

Quickly the engine is reversed and the air brakes come into play. 

Too late! 

A moan of agonized terror falls from the lips of the half-dead girl, 
and then she sank helplessly to the ground. At the same instant 
help came from an unexpected source. 

A man dashed swiftly through the moonlight and flung a heavy oak 
tie in front of the slackened engine. 

A rumble and a jar, and then the train came to a dead stop, within 
three feet of the prostrate girl! 

It was a narrow escape. 

The man who had come so unexpectedly out of the shadows dragged 
Nell from her dangerous position. The engineer and fireman came 
down and congratulated the young man on his presence. 

“ The brakes couldn’t quite do it,” said the engineer/ “ That tie 
saved the girl, with no damage to the train. ” 

“It seems to be a lucky accident all round,” said the young man, 
who had laid Nell on a safe spot, and now turned his attention to 
assisting in removing the obstruction from the rails. 

“Yes. Who is she?” 

“ I can’t say.” 

“ Well, I must be on the way,” uttered the engineer; “ we are 
behind time now.” 

By this time the conductor was on the ground, but the train was 
running again, and he received a full explanation from the engineer 
afterward. 

When the young man made a closer inspection of the girl he had 
rescued, a cry of surprise fell from his lips. 


104 


DYKE DARREL. 


** As I live, it is Nell Darrel! ” 

But she could not speak to thank him for his act, since she had 
fainted. 

Lifting ner tenderly the young man turned his steps in the direction 
of the farm-house, where he had been stopping during the past two 
days. 

“ Curse you! curse you!” were the venomous words flung after the 
man by Madge Scarlet. 

But she dared not interfere to prevent the rescue. 

When Nell Darrel again opened her eyes, it was to find herself 
calmly resting on a couch in a little room, whose cozy appearance 
was like home indeed. 

And the face that bent over her was not that of a stranger. Could 
it be that she was dreaming ? 

“ Thank Heaven!” murmured a manly voice, and then a mustached 
lip bent and pressed a clinging kiss to the cheek of poor Nell 

“ Harry, dear Harry! ” 

Thus had the lovers met after many long months of separation. 

A smile rested on the face of the fair girl as she held Harry’s hand 
while he talked of the past. 

She explained as best she could the strangeness of her situation; 
but everything was so much like a dream, it was a hard matter to 
reconcile some of the events of the past few weeks. 

“ The end draws nigh,” assured young Bernard, after a time. “ If 
the notorious man calling himself Ruggles was on the train, he will, 
on discovering his loss, turn back, and then I will capture him. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE MYSTERIOUS WART. 

I i^E left Dyke Darrel, the detective, in a critical position on the 
V l/ railroad track, with the roar of a freight engine in his ears. 
The rays of the rising sun touched the glittering rails as the long train 
swept around the bend upon doomed Dyke Darrel. 

One more tremendous effort on the part of the detective, and he 
succeeded in throwing his body squarely across one of the rails. In 
this position he hung a helpless weight, with the hoarse roar the 
engine making anything but sweet music to his fainting soul. 

Ha! Look! A hand is outstretched to save at the last moment, 
and Dyke Darrel is jerked from under the smoking wheels, even as 
their breath fans his fevered cheek. 



THE MYSTERIOUS WART. 


105 


The train swept on. 

A cheer greeted the man who had come opportunely to the rescue 
as the engine swept on its course. 

And a little later a man, young, yet whose boyish face bore marks 
of dissipation, stood beside the detective and gazed into his face now 
for the first time. 

“ Great Caesar! ” 

The young man started as though cut by a knife, and bent low over 
the fallen detective, who was now struggling to a sitting posture. 

When he looked into the face of his rescuer he uttered a great cry. 

“ My soul! how came you here, Martin Skidway ? ” 

“ I am a fugitive,” answered the young convict. “ It wasn’t through 
your good will that I got out of prison, I can tell you that. Had I 
known who it was on the track, I might not have put out my hand to 
save. ” 

The detective regarded the speaker in no little amazement. . This 
was the second time he had escaped from the Missouri prison, which 
argued well for the man’s keenness and capability, or else ill for the 
official management of the prison. 

“ It was from the St. Louis prison that I escaped,” explained Mar¬ 
tin Skidway a little later. “ I never got inside the State institution a 
second time. I’ve had a sweet time of it thus far.” 

“ Tell me how you made your escape,” said Dyke Darrel, who sat 
with his back against a tree, and regarded the young counterfeiter in 
wonder. 

“ There isn’t much to tell,” returned Skidway. “ I had no assist¬ 
ance, but it seems that a pair of burglars had broken out by filing off 
the grating to one of the corridor windows, and the opening had not 
been repaired when I was taken to the jail. I was left in the corridor 
a minute while the jailor was attending some other prisoners, and 
that minute gave me the opportunity. I mounted a chair, climbed 
through the window, and made my escape by the light of the 
moon. Of course there was a big search, but I remained hidden in an 
old cellar under a deserted house in a grove within the city limits, 
for several days, and finally made good my escape from the State.” 

“ And now? ” 

“ I am going to put the ocean between me and the beaks of Ameri¬ 
can law.” 

Dyke Darrel regarded the speaker with mingled emotions. He saw 
in this daring young fellow much talent, that had it been rightly 
directed, might have made an honorable place in the world for Mar¬ 
tin Skidway. 

“ I am helpless to arrest your steps just at present,” groaned the 


® ' ' '• 'SvT V ® ^ ?!?£■’ - ■'■ '■ V 








t ^i. 




S "i l 



























































































































































































































































THE MYSTERIOUS WART. 


107 


detective. “ Would you do it after what has happened, if you were 
in a condition to do so? ” demanded the convict, bending over the man 
on the ground, regarding him with a menacing look. 

“ Duty often calls one to do that which is disagreeable,” answered 
Dyke Darrel. 

A deep frown mantled the brows of the convict. 

“ I see that my mercy was misdirected,” he said. “ It seems that I 
have saved your life only to give you a chance to dog me to doom. 
Think you I am fool enough to permit this? ” 

There was a menace in the man’s voice that Dyke Darrel did not 
like. 

“ I am at present helpless,” he said. “I don’t imagine you will 
harm a man who is in no condition to injure you if he wonld. ” 

“ But you can talk. The first man who. comes along will hear from 
you that an escaped convict is in the rural districts of New York, and 
a telegram will set ten thousand officers on the lookout forme. With¬ 
out such information I would not be recognized in this community. I 
am a desperate man, Dyke Darrel, and do not propose to sacrifice 
myself for your benefit.” 

“ What will you do? ” 

“ One of two things.” 

“ Well?.” 

“You must solemnly swear that you will never reveal to anothet 
that I am in this region, and swear also to make no effort to capture 
me under a month, or else I shall have a painful duty to perform.” 

“Goon!” 

“ Will you take the required oath? ’ 

“ Certainly not.” 

“ Then the other alternative is alone left me, Dyke Darrel.” 

“ And that? ” 

“ Death to you!” 

Straightening to his full height after uttering the three terrible 
words, Martin Skidway snatched a heavy iron bolt from the ground, 
that had lain long beside the track, and raised it above the head of 
helpless Dyke Darrel. 

“ Martin Skidway, hold!” 

The words of the detective came forth in a thrilling cry. 

An instant the would-be assassin stayed his hand. 

“ You agree to my terms? ” 

“No; but-” 

“ Then you must die It will be considered an accident, and no one 
will suspect my hand in the affair. ” 


DYKE DARREL. 


to8 

Again the young convict poised his weapon for deadly work. On 
the instant the rumble of wheels met the ears of Martin Skidway. 

A wagon containing two men was in sight, moving down a road that 
ran parallel with the railway at this point. It was evident that the 
occupants of the vehicle had seen Skidway, and to strike now would 
but add to the vengeance of pursuit and punishment. With a curse, 
he dropped the iron bolt and turned to flee. 

“ Dyke Darrel, if you inform on me, I will kill you at another time l ” 
hissed the convict. 

Then he rushed from the spot and disappeared. 

As the wagon came opposite it halted, and the cries of Dyke Darrel 
brought both men to his side. 

“ Hello! is this you? ” cried a cheery voice, and the next instant 
Dyke Darrel was lifted to his feet by the strong hand of Harry Ber¬ 
nard. 

It was a happy and unexpected meeting. Harry had good news to 
tell, and when Dyke Darrel, assisted by his friend, reached the farm¬ 
house where Nell had found safety and shelter, the detective was 
strong enough to stand, and assist himself in no small degree. 

Mutual explanations were entered into, and, as may be supposed, 
the meeting between brother and sister was a happy one indeed. 
Harry was the hero of the hour. 

When Dyke Darrel spoke of Martin Skidway, and the part he had 
acted in saving his life, a word of admiration fell from the lips of NelL 
But when Dyke proceeded to the conclusion, the girl’s face blanched, 
and she had no word of commendation left for the miserable convict, 
tvho, after all, possessed but little honor. 

“ So Aunt Scarlet is in the neighborhood; and also your abductor,” 
mused the detective. “ The trail is becoming hot, indeed. ” 

“ It is, for a fact,” admitted Harry. “ I believe, if the truth was 
known, this man Ruggles will prove to be the man we want. Have 
you that handkerchief with you, Dyke, that we found in the coat of 
the rascal who attempted your murder in St. Louis? ” 

This was several hours after the events of the morning, and Nell 
was now resting in a large wooden rocker, very weak, yet feeling 
remarkably well, considering the siege she had passed through during 
the past two weeks and more. Dyke Darrel and Harry were the only 
occupants of the room, the farmer being at his work in the field, and 
his good wife attending preparations for supper in the kitchen. 

“ I have kept the tell-tale handkerchief through it all,” answered 
the detective, at the same time producing the article from a receptacle, 
beneath his shirt. 


THE MYSTERIOUS WART. 


IOp 

u It’s a wonder this was not discovered when you were in the hands 
of the thugs of Chicago.” 

“ I wasn’t closely searched, I suppose. You and the boys were too 
close after them. ” 

“You give me too much credit, Dyke,” returned Harry Bernard, 
modestly. “ I’ve a question to ask.” 

“ Ask as many as you like. ” 

“ Was it the fact of my hand fitting this bloody imprint that so 
startled you in the St. Louis hotel?” 

“ Did I not so claim at the time?” 

“ Perhaps c , but wasn’t there another coincidence that gave you reason 
to suspect me? 

“ There might have been. ” 

“ I thought so. It was the imprint of a large wart, such as this 
on the handkerchief, that made you look with suspicion upon me. Is 
it not so? ” 

Harry held up his hand, so that a wart on the little finger was 
plainly revealed, and which, when he placed his hand against the tell¬ 
tale handkerchief, fitted the marks perfectly.” 

“ Forgive me, Harry,” cried the detective, quickly. “ I know now 
that it was only a remarkable duplicate; the wart belonged to 
another hand than yours. The print of the wart was also on the 
bosom of Arnold Nicholson’s white shirt bosom, where a bloody hand 
had fallen. I made this discovery when I examined the body of my 
dead friend. Circumstantial evidence pointed to you, and yet I 
doubted—” 

“ I understand,” interrupted Harry. “ My hand is indeed a dupli¬ 
cate of the assassin’s. It is a wonder that I have not been arrested 
ere this by some of the detectives who are engaged in working up this 
case. ” 

“ Why so? ” 

« Because you are not the only one who made the discovery of the 
wart that adorned the hand of the assassin. A reporter got hold of 
the story and published it. Don’t you remember? ” 

«I haven’t read the papers closely since the murder.” 

“ But I have, and so has the man who killed Nicholson. ” 

“Indeed ? ” 

“ He soon learned that officers of the law were all looking for a man 
with a large wart on the second joint of the little finger of the right 
hand. This fact made him nervous, and one night he severed the wart* 
and flung it from him, since which time he has breathed easier.” 

A low exclamation from the lips of Nell startled both men. 


1X0 


DYKE DARREL. 


1 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE STORY OF A WART. 

T"%ELL, what is it?” questioned the surprised detective, 
i G Harry regarded the girl with a queer smile. Perhaps he 
knew what had brought the exclamation to the lips of Miss Darrei. 

“ I know a man who has lost a wart,” she said, slowly, a deepening 
pallor coming to her cheeks. 

“ His name? ” questioned Dyke Darrel, eagerly. 

But the girl did not immediately answer. It seemed that something 
moved her deeply. 

“ Was it Professor Ruggles?” questioned Harry, in order to heip 
the young girl out. 

“ No,” she said. 

“ Who then? ” 

“ Harper Elliston l ” 

A grave look chased the smile from the face of Harry Bernard. 

The girl’s announcement seemed to prove a revelation to him, even 
as it did to Dyke Darrel. 

“ I did not know the man who severed the wart from his hand,” said 
Harry Bernard, after a brief silence, “ but suspected that it was Dar¬ 
lington Ruggles. It seems now that I was correct.” 

“ How is that?” 

“ Have you not guessed the truth,” queried Harry Bernard. “ I made 
the discovery some time since that the red-haired man and Harper 
Elliston were one and the same. ” 

This came as a revelation to both the detective and his sister. 

“I have had suspicions,” said Dyke Darrel, “but never anything 
definite regarding the villainy of this man Elliston. He has played 
his cards well, but I became undeceived not long after this great rail¬ 
road crime. That he was not my friend I discovered, and then I resolved 
to watch him. I have reason to believe that it was to him I owe my 
arrest in Burlington, Iowa. I now see the truth, that under the assumed 
name of Hubert Vander, Elliston ruined a young girl of Burlington, 
and, it may be, murdered her father, wealthy Captain Osborne. It 
would be strange indeed, should the trail that ends with the capture 
of the express robber also bring to punishment the assassin of the 
Burlington Captain. ” 

“ It seems likely to end in that way,” returned Harry. 

“ Let us hear what Nell has to say with regard to the wart,” said 
the detective, turning to his sister. 

*’ It will require but a few words to do that,” said Nell Darrel. u I 


THE STORY OF THE WART. 


Ill 


always noticed a peculiarly shaped wart on the finger of Mr. Elliston’s 
shapely right hand, and once he remarked upon it to me, saying that 
it was a disfigurement, and that he meant to have it removed some¬ 
time. I think it was the first time I met Mr. Elliston after the terri¬ 
ble news of the midnight express tragedy that I noticed the absence of 
the wart, and a bit of surgeon’s plaster covering the spot. I laughed 
over his having undergone such a severe surgical operation, and he 
seemed to take it in good part, assuring me that he was the surgeon 
who amputated the excresence with a razor. Of course I thought 
nothing strange of it at the time.” 

“ You said the wart had a peculiar shape? How is that?” ques¬ 
tioned Harry Bernard. 

“ It was large, and was composed of two crowns. I think, per¬ 
haps two warts had grown together at the roots. ” 

“ Exactly. Would you know the wart if you should see it again?” 

“ I think I should.” 

“ So would I,” cried the detective. 

Then Harry Bernard drew a small vial from his pocket and held it 
up to view. A small object, submerged in alcohol, was visible. 
When placed in the hand of Nell, the girl at once exclaimed: 

“ That is certainly the wart that once disfigured the hand of Harper 
Elliston!” 

“ Where did you get it ? ” questioned Dyke Darrel, now deeply 
interested at the links that were being rapidly forged in the chain of 
evidence. 

“ Dyke, you know that when I left Woodburg some months 
ago, I went from among you under a cloud? ” 

“ I will not dispute you —” 

“No explanation is necessary on your part, Dyke. I imagine I 
was as much to blame as anybody. Nell and I quarreled, and I 
imagined that the handsome, elderly New Yorker had stepped into 
my shoes, so far as she was concerned. I did not like the man, and 
so I resolved to investigate for myself, and if I found that he was not 
worthy of Nell, whom I loved and should always love while life lasted, 
I determined to expose him, and save your sister. During the past 
few months I have been making this investigation, to find that the 
supposed immaculate Harper Elliston is known in Gotham in certain 
circles as a gambler and villain of the deepest dye. He has 
committed some crimes that are worse than 'murder. Now, as to 
the wart: It was soon after I had heard of the murder on the express 
train, that while riding in the smoking car of an emigrant train in 
Iowa, I saw an old man deliberately slice a huge wart from his little 
finger with a keen-edged knife. The wart fell under the seat and 

Dyke Darrel 8. 


112 


DYKE DARREL. 


foiled at my feet. The old man made no effort to recover it, but 
wrapped his bleeding hand in a handkerchief and muttered: ‘ that 
witness will never come up to trouble me. * There was something in 
the man’s voice that sounded familiar, and the strange whiteness of his 
hands aroused my suspicions, for in dress and appearance the man was 
a laborer of the lower class. Curiosity, if nothing stronger, prompted 
me to take possession of the severed wart that had rolled at my 
feet. Soon after that I read the notice in a newspaper, to the effect 
that the assassin of the express train had left the imprint of a wart on 
the bosom of the dead man’'s shirt. Since that time I have regarded 
hands with no little interest, and have looked for the old man of the 
emigrant car in vain. ” 

* An interesting recital,” said the detective, when Harry Bernard 
came to a pause. “ Knowing all this, you kept it from me at St. 
Louis.” 

“ My reason for that was, that I did not care to arouse any foolish 
theories. Of course, the reporter’s story might have been false. The 
wart on my own hand, somewhat similar to this, led me to keep my 
own council as a matter of personal safety. Although I suspected 
Elliston, I had no proof, since I had forgotten the fact of his ever 
having a wart on the little finger of his right hand. My principal 
hope has been in finding the old man of the emigrant train. ” 

u You have not found him? ” 

“Not unless Elliston is the man.” 

“ Did you suspect this before now ? ” 

“ I did; now I am convinced. 

Just then Harry Bernard chanced to raise his eyes and gaze out of 
the open window. 

He came suddenly to his feet with a startled exclamation. 

Dyke Darrel glanced out of the window to notice a bent old man, 
with white hair and beard, moving away from the vicinity of the 
house. Evidently he had been looking into the room, if not listening 
to the conversation of the trio. 

u faints of Rome! there is the old man of the emigrant train 
now! ” 

Dyke Darrel staggered to the window, while Harry Bernard rushed 
swiftly from the farm-house. 


1SS REVELATIONS OF A SATCHEL. 


11 $ 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


THE REVELATIONS OF A SATCHEL. 


• P^ELLO, old man!* 
o “Eh?” 

The man stopped, stared at Harry Bernard as if puzzled, and then 
.began to grin. 

“ I want to speak with you, sir. ” 

“Sortin, sortin you can.” 

“ Who are you? ” 

“ Sam Wiggs o’ Yonkers. W’at can I do for ye," mister? ” 

The old fellow seemed honest enough, and as Harry glanced at the 
dirty hands, he saw nothing to excite his suspicions. 

“ Are you a relative of Mr.-? ” naming the farmer who owned 

the place on which they stood. 

“ Wal, not as I knows on,” drawled the old fellow, laughing until 
his old head seemed ready to topple from his shoulders. “No blood 
relation, any how, sir. You see, my wife’s cousin’s aunt’s husband’s 
brother Jerry was a cousin to Nicodemus Dunce, who, if I don’t 
disremember, was related in some way to Isacker Pete’s wife’s sister, 
and she was this ere man’s niece, or somethin’ o’ that sort, but we 
ain’t blood related nohow.” 

“ I should think not, ” answered Harry, ana then he returned to the 
house, while the old man Wiggs proceeded unmolested on his way. 

« At a first glance, he did resemble the man of the emigrant train 
strongly,” muttered Bernard, “ but I see now that I was mistaken.” 

“ Well, how did you make out, Harry? ” 

“ This was from Dyke Darrel, who had been watching proceedings 
from the window. 

“ A case of mistaken identity,” answered the young man, with a 
laugh. “ I was sure I had found the right man when I saw that old 
chap crossing the yard, but it seems that I was mistaken.” 

“ Are you sure of it? ” 

“ I suppose I am. ” 

Dyke Darrel watched the retreating form of the old man with no 
little curiosity, however, until his bent form was lost to view down 
the winding road. Naturally suspicious, the detective more than half 
believed that the seemingly aged man had not come to the farm-house 
for any good purpose. 

“ I can’t help thinking that Wiggs, as he called himself, is destined 
to give us trouble, Harry,” the detective said, at length. 

“An inoffensive old man,” asserted Bernard. At the same time» 

however, he was not fully content to let the matter rest as it wa& 

8 _ . 


«4 


DYKE DARREL. 


** It might be well enough to watch the ola idlow, at any rate,” said 
Dyke Darrel, rising and walking twice across the room, peering nerv¬ 
ously out of the window in the direction in which old Wiggs had gone. 

“ Keep quiet, Dyke,” said Bernard “ I will shadow the old fellow, 
and see if he is other than he seems.” 

Bernard was on the point of leaving the room, when a youth ap¬ 
peared, walking swiftly toward the farm-house from the direction of 
the station. One glance sufficed to show both men the genial face of 
the boy Paul Ender. 

“ So you have Paul with you, Harry? ” said the detective with a 
pleased smile. 

“ He is my shadow, and I have found him true and brave,” answered 
Harry, at the same time glancing toward Nell, who had told him of 
the lad’s defense of her against the villain Elliston. 

“ I can testify to his bravery,” said the girl. “ Paul and I are great 
friends. ” 

A minute later, young Ender entered the presence of the trio, and 
deposited a black satchel in the middle of the floor. 

“ I have committed a theft,” said the boy, with a queer look on his 
face, “ and am here to throw myself on the mercy of the court. ” 

“You speak in riddles,” said Bernard. “ I’ve been on a bully lay, 
as the peelers say, and I believe have made a discovery, although it 
may amount to nothing after all. ” 

“Go on.” 

“ I’ve seen the man with the red hair and beard.” 

« When? ” 

“Where?” 

“ Over by the d£p6t. I saw him go into an old out-house with this 
satchel in his hand.” 

“ Indeed!” 

“ Go on. ” 

“ I was on the watch, and when he came out I saw, not Brother 
Ruggles, but a lean old man, with white locks and beard, who seemed 
to walk with great difficulty.” 

“ Ah!” 

“Indeed!” 

“ He hobbled away, and failed to take the satchel with him. At 
first X could not believe that the sorrel gent and the old chap were the 
same. I learned this by investigation. When, after waiting a spell, 
and no sunset-haired gent came forth, I proceeded to investigate, and 
found this satchel, which, under the law of military necessity, I pro¬ 
ceeded to confiscate, that the ends of justice might be furthered. If I 


THE REVELATIONS OF A SAiJHEL. 11 $ 

have done wrong, I am ready to throw myself on the mercy of the 
court, and be forgiven.” 

“You have done right,” cried Dyke Darrel “ Have you opened 
the satchel ? ” 

“ No. It is locked, and I haven’t a key that will fit.” 

Harry Bernard produced several keys, none of which fitted the 
lock to the satchel. 

“ What are we to do? ” cried Bernard. " The satchel is securely 
locked, and its owner has the key. ” 

“This is no time for ceremony or undue squeamishness!” uttered 
Dyke Darrel. “ We are on the eve of an important discovery, and I 
propose to make no delays. ” 

Then, drawing a knife from his pocket, the detective bent over the 
satchel and slit the sides at one stroke.” 

“ That will open it if a key won’t,” he remarked, with grim sat¬ 
isfaction. 

The contents of the satchel were a revelation. 

Red wigs and a complete suit of clothes, besides paints and 
powders. 

Harry uttered an exclamation. 

“ Just as I suspected,” uttered Dyke Darrel. “ You made no mis¬ 
take when you suspected thac old man who just now left this vicinity. 
Doubtless he forgot his satchel, or else thought it safe until his return. 
Paul, my boy, you h*ve done a good thing, and shaP be promoted 
We must now make it a point to intercept old Wiggs. 

“ Doubtless he has gone to the depot.” 

“ How far is that from here? ” 

“ Two miles.” 

« When does the train pass? ” questioned Dyke DarreL 

“ I cannot say. ” 

« Nor I.” 

“ Ask the farmer’s wife.” 

Paul sped from the room. 

« The New York express goes in ten minutes,” said the boy, on his 
return. 

“In ten minutes? Then we have no time to lose,”^cried Dyke, 
turning to the door. 

« Dyke, what would you do? ” demanded Nell at this moment. 

“ Capture your enemy and mine ——” 

« But you are not strong enough to take the traiL Stay with me. " 

He interrupted her with: 

“ Nell, I never felt stronger in my life. I mean to put the bracelets 
cm the villain’s wrists with my own hands.” 


DYKE DARREL. 


i 


II* 


* Dyke, leave it to me,” urged Harry Bernard. 

But the detective’* blood was up, and he would listen to no one. 
He was determined to be in at the death, and for the time hi* old 
strength seemed coursing in his veins. He hastened from the house, 
and ascertaining that a horse was in the barn, he at once sprang to 
the animal’s back. 

“You are unarmed? ” said Bernard. 

* Yes, but —■—” 

“ Take this; I will quickly follow,” and the young man thrust a re¬ 
volver into the hand of Dyke Darrel. “ Do nothing rash until help 
arrives, Dyke. Our game is desperate, and will fight hard if cor¬ 
nered. ” 

“lam aware of that, but I do not fear him. Ha I what is that? ” 

“ The roar of the train.” 

“ Then time is short. ” 

The horse and rider shot away down the country road like an ar¬ 
row, or a bird. On and on, with the speed of the wind, and yet the 
lightning express made even greater speed than did the detective’s 
horse. 

With a roar and a rush the train swept past. 

Too late! 

Dyke Darrel drew rein at the d£p6t just as the "train swept madly 
away on its course to the great city, and on the rear platform stood 
the old man who had peered into the farm-house window but a short 
time before. 

It was an aggravating situation. 

“ You can use the telegraph,” suggested thed<fpot agent, when Dar¬ 
rel unbosomed himself to him. 

“ Quick! Send word to the next station, and have the man de¬ 
tained.” 

The ticket agent went to his instrument and ticked off the desired 
information. 

A little later came the reply: 

“No such person on the train.” 

A malediction fell from the detective’s lips. Y/as his enemy to thus 
outwit him always? 


RETRIBUTION. 


iff 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

RETRIBUTION. 

TALL, handsome man of middle-age stood picking his teeth 
jFv with a jaunty air beside the desk of a down-town boarding¬ 
house, when his occupation, if such we may call it, was interrupted 
by a touch on his arm. 

Looking down, the gentleman saw a small, ragged urchin standing 
near. 

“ It is yourn— io cents, please . n 

The boy held out a yellow envelope, on which was scrawled the 
name “ Harper Elliston. ” 

The gentleman dropped the required bit of silver into the boy’s 
hand with the air of a king, and then tore open the envelope. 

“Mr. Elliston: Meet me at Room 14, Number 388 Blank 
street, at seven this evening, sharp. Business of importance. 

«B." 

The contents of the envelope puzzled Mr. Elliston, who had been 
but ten days in New York since his return from the West. He had 
several acquaintances whose names might with appropriateness be 
signed B. 

“ I don’t think there’ll be any harm in meeting Mr. B. at the place 
mentioned. It may be of importance, as he says. If it should be a 
trap set by Dyke Darrel — but, pshaw 1 that man is dead. I had it 
from the lips of Martin Skidway, and he knew whereof he spoke. I 
will call at 388, let the consequences be what they may. ” 

Thus decided a cunning villain, and in so doing went to his own 
doom. 

Ten days had Dyke Darrel and his friend Bernard searched the city 
of New York ere they found their prey. Once found, the detective 
resolved upon a novel manner of procedure for his capture. The 
sending of the letter was part of the scheme. Had this failed, then a 
bolder move would have been made. 

But it did not fail. 

When Mr. Elliston rapped at room 14, number 388 Blank street, 
the door was opened, admitting the visitor to a small room containing 
a bed, a few necessary articles of furniture, and a curtained alcove. 

The door was suddenly closed and locked behind Elliston, light waa 
turned on fully, and then the visitor found himself confronted by 
Harry Bernard, whom he had met once or twice in Woodburg, many 
months before. 

«* Eh l ” ejaculated Elliston. “ So you are the man who wrott that 


DYKE DARREL. 


nS 

note requesting an interview? Well, I am glad to see you, Mr. Ber¬ 
nard,” and Elliston held out his hand, with a smile wreathing hL thin 
lips. 

M I imagined you would be,” returned the youth. am glad to 
see you so well. Fact is, you are badly wanted out in Illinois at the 
present time.” 

“ I am sorry that I cannot accommodate my friends out there,” 
returned Elliston, with a frown ; “ but it is wholly out of the question. 
I think I will bid you good evening, Mr. Bernard. I cannot waste 
precious time here.” 

He turned and grasped the door-knob. It did not yield to his 
touch. 

“ Not just yet, Mr. Elliston,” said Harry. “ I wish to ask you a 
few questions. ” 

« Well ? ” 

“ What do you know of the murder of Arnold Nicholson cn the 
midnight express, south of Chicago, some weeks ago ? ” 

“ I read of it, of course. ” 

Mr. Elliston pulled nervously at his glove as he answered. 

“ What do you know of the disappearance of Captain Osborne and 
the death of his daughter ? ” persisted Bernard. 

“ Do you suppose I have nothing to do but answer such nonsensical 
questions ? ” demanded Elliston, angrily. “ Open this door and let 
me pass out. ” 

“ Not yet. I wish to tell you a little story, Mr. Elliston.” 

“ I haven’t time to listen.” 

“Nevertheless, you must take the time,” said Harry Bernard, 
sternly. “ Don’t attempt to make trouble, sir; you will get the worst 
of it if you do.” 

There was a glitter in the eyes of the speaker that was not pleas¬ 
ant to see. 

Mr. Elliston sank to a chair, and with an air of resignation said: 

“ Well, well, this is impudent, but I will listen if it will g atify 
you.” 

“ It certainly will. I wish to start out with the assertion that you 
do know something about the crime on the midnight express, and I 
will try and convince you that / know what part you acted in the 
murder of one of the best men in the service of the express company. 
Don’t lose your temper, sir, but listen? ” 

“ I am listening. ” 

There was a sullen echo in the man’s voice that boded an outburst 
soon. 

* A gentleman of your build and complexion boarded the train at ft 


RETRIBUTION. 


119 


station just south of Chicago one night in April. At another station 
two companions joined this man, according to previous agreement. 
One was almost a boy in years, an escaped convict; and these three 
men during the night entered the express car, murdered the agent, 
and went through the safe. Just before reaching Black Hollow the 
three men left the car. One of the three was tall and had red hair 
and beard. This man, after the slaughter, left a trace behind that has 
led to his identity. He left the imprint of a bloody hand on a white 
handkerchief that he took from the pocket of his victim. That hand¬ 
kerchief was afterward found, and the bloody mark compared with the 
hand of the assassin.” 

A That could hardly be possible. Hands are many of them alike,” 
articulated Mr. Elliston, nervously. 

“ True, but in this case a wart, of peculiar shape, gave the man 
away. The mark of his bloody hand, leaving the wart’s impress, was 
not only on the handkerchief, but left against the white shirt-front of 
the murdered man as well. The man who committed the murder 
read of the clew in a Chicago paper, and, to obliterate the tell-tale 
evidence, he cut the wart from his hand and dropped it under the seat 
while journeying through Iowa in disguise, on an ©migrant train.” 

The face of Elliston had become white as death, and he trembled 
from head to foot. If Bernard had doubted before, he doubted now 
no longer. 

“ A nice story, ” finally sneered Bernard’s visitor. “ When did 
you learn so much? ” 

“ Weeks ago-” 

“ And you have permitted this villain to run at large so long! ” 

“ Well, I propose to see that he does not flaunt his crimes in the 
face of the world longer. ” 

Then, with a quick movement, the youth drew a vial from his 
pocket and held it up to view, exhibiting to the dilating eyes of the 
New Yorker a large wart with a double top. 

“ Just remove the glove from your right hand, Mr. Elliston. I 
think we will find a scar there that this wart will fit-” 

“Furies! this is too much,” cried Elliston, coming to his feet, 
white with rage and fear. 

“ Stop. Keep your temper,” warned Bernard. “ I wish to bring a 
witness; one that has been your companion in crime. ” 

The curtain over the alcove was brushed aside, and a man stepped 
forth, a man with red whiskers and hair, the latter surmounted with a 
glossy plug hat. 

Elliston stared like one bereft of sense and life. 



120 


DYKE DARREL. 


“Allow me to introduce Professor Darlington Ruggles, Mr. Ellis* 
ton,” uttered Harry Bernard in a mocking voice. 

“ Hades! what does this mean? ” and the trapped villain staggered, 
clutching the back of a chair for support. 

“It means that your race of crime and diabolism is run, Harper 
Elliston!” 

Red hair and beard were suddenly swept aside, a revolver was 
thrust into the startled countenance of Elliston; he looked, and could 
only utter: 

“ Dyke Darrel, the detective! ” 

“ Do you deny your guilt, scoundrel? ” 

But Harper Elliston sank to a seat, and bowed his head, while drops 
of cold sweat covered his forehead. 

The touch of cold steel and click of closing bracelets roused him. 

He was helpless now, for his wrists were encircled by handcuffs. 
Black despair confronted the villain. 

Dyke Darrel went through the pockets of his prisoner and found a 
revolver, an ugly looking clasp knife, and other articles of a nature 
that served to show that the owner was not pursuing an honest 
calling. 

“ Do you remember that night on the dock beside the river, Ellis¬ 
ton? ” questioned Bernard, bending suddenly over the prisoner. 

But no answer came from the bloodless lips of the cornered 
villain. 

“ It was I who tore your mask of red hair from your head that 
night. I had mistrusted you for a villain, and I meant to unmask you 
to save Nell Darrel, whom I loved, from your wiles. You struck me 
with a knife and pushed me into the river. I, however, was not 
harmed. The point of your knife glanced on a small book that 
I carried in an inner pocket. I escaped from the river, and resolved 
to follow you to your doom. I overheard your plans of abducting 
Nell Darrel, when you fired at my masked face that night as I peered 
into Mother Scarlet’s room. I then knew you to be a villain of the 
deepest dye. Since, I learned that you were the man in disguise on 
the emigrant train in Iowa, and this wart will, with other evidence, 
condemn you before an honest jury of your peers.” 

A groan alone answered the denouement made by Harry Bernard. 

Dyke Darrel removed the glove from his prisoner’s right hand, and 
exposed a scarcely-healed scar near the joint of the little finger. The 
chain of evidence was complete. The red hair in the clutches of the 
murdered Nicholson had evidently been torn from the false bearu of 
the disguised assassin. 

The New Yorker was removed from the house and taken at once 


RETRIBUTION,^ 


XZi 

to prison. From thence, on the following morning, Dyke Dario. _ 
oat on his return to the Garden City with Elliston in charge. 

Harry Benard remained over at the farm-house in New York State 
to see Nell, who had been left in the care of Paul Ender. Nell had 
almost entirely recovered from the shock of her recent treatment, and 
was overjoyed at the outcome of her friends’ visit to New York. 

Elliston will be convicted and hanged,” was Bernard’s verdict. 

On the very day of Harry’s arrival at the farm-house, he, with the 
old farmer, was summoned to visit one who had met with a fatal ac¬ 
cident and was about to die. 

It proved to be Martin Skidway, who lay on a barn floor with his 
head in his mother’s lap, gasping his life away, an ugly wound in his 
side. 

He had accidentally shot himself and was rapidly sinking. A 
fugitive in hiding for weeks, his life had been an intolerable one. 
Now that he was dying, he made a full confession, admitting his own 
hand in the awfu. railroad crime, and implicating two others, Elliston 
and Nick Brower. Sam Swart had been one of them, but he was 
known to be dead. 

* Without his urging I would never have stained my hands; in 
fact, it was Elliston who struck the blow that killed the express 
messenger. ’* 

Without this confession, there was evidence enough to convict the 
New Yorker; with it, both Brower and the principal were found 
guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to the gallows. 
Nick Brower was the only one of the four who expiated his crime on 
the gallows. Harper Elliston died in prison by his own hand. 

He left a note admitting the express crime, and also confessing to 
the murder of Captain Osborne and the ruin of his daughter Sibyl. 
His was a fitting end to a career of unparalleled crime. 


We now draw a veil over the scene. 

Harry Bernard and Nell Darrel were, soon after the arrest and death 
of Elliston, happily married. 

Dyke Darrel considers the events leading up to the capture and 
punishment of those engaged in the crime of the midnight express as 
among the most thrilling and wonderful of his detective experience. 
To Harry Bernard and Paul Ender he gives a large share of the credit, 
and with them shared the reward. Bernard has of late worked in 
conjunction with Dyke Darrel on other cases, and is fast winning a 
reputation second only to that of the great railroad detective himself. 


THE ENP. 




1 WILL HKVEB, WHILE JLUIZ LTCJC3* GIVE MI HAND TO AN 



























































































































































































































































































































WON BY CRIME. 


CHAPTER I. 

A YOUNG girl, about eighteen, with a slender, elegant form, beauti¬ 
ful straight features, and eyes of softest darkness, sitting before a large 
tame covered with maps and drawings, which she was trying vainly to 
stuoy. 

* It is no use! ” she cried, at last, pushing back the mass of thick 
black hair falling over her white brow; “ I shall never be able to get 
India by heart, unless I can see the places. I wish papa would let us 
go reconnoitering amongst the ruined temples and other mysterious 
buildings; it is so annoying staying here day after day, never seeing 
anything outside the palace. ” 

“ My dear Lianor, ” said her companion, a young man scarcely 
older than herself, and wonderfully like her, “ what new idea have 
you got now ?” 

“ An idea of seeing more of the curious places 1 have read so much 
about. Fancy living a lifetime in a country and never going beyond 
one town! If I do not get some excitement, I shall die of ennui , 
so I warn you.” 

« l quite agree with you, and if uncle would only let us, it would be 
delightful, seeking out the temples so long deserted. But you know 
he would not,” shrugging his shoulders. 

«I’m not so sure of that. Papa never refuses me anything, and 
when he sees it is necessary to my happiness I should go, he will con¬ 
sent. Anyhow, I will try,” jumping eagerly to her feet. “Come, 
Leone. ” 

Her cousin rose, and took the white, outstretched hand ; then like 
two children they crossed the beautiful marble hall, until, arriving 
before a door draped with rich curtains, Lianor paused and softly 
knocked. 

“ Come in! ” rather impatiently. 

With a smile Lianor opened the door, and entered, followed by 
Panteleone. 

Jh. the room, handsomely fitted up as a study, sat a fine-looking, 

123 



134 


WON BY CRIME. 


middle-aged man, busily writing; his dark face wore an expression of 
severity as he glanced toward the intruders. 

It quickly faded, however, on seeing the pretty ngure standing 
there ; instead, a gentle smile wreathed his lips. 

“ Well, Lianor, dearest, what is it? ” 

“ Papa,” and the girl stole noiselessly behind his chair, winding her 
arms around his neck. “ I am so miserable, I have nothing to amuse 
me, and unless you do something to make me happier, I shall go 
melancholy mad! ” 

“ My dearest child, what is the matter? Are you ill? ” anxiously 
turning to peer into the lovely face. 

“ No, papa ; but I am so tired of this life. ” 

“ That is not like my little girl. And I have tried hard to make 
you happy. Nothing in reason have I refused you—jewels, such as 
a queen might envy ; priceless stuffs to deck your pretty form, and 
other things which no girl of your age ever possessed, ” reproachfully. 

Lianor bent down, and kissed his brow, lovingly— repentingly. 

“ You have been a great deal too good to me. JBut there is some¬ 
thing more I wish to ask ; it will make me happy if you will grant 
my request. ” 

“We shall see. Tell me first what it is.” 

Lianor briefly related her wish to visit the old temple which lay 
beyond Goa, to search with Panteleone the curious old ruins she had 
so often read of in her studies. 

Don Gracia looked grave ; evidently this project did not find much 
favor in his eyes. 

A Portuguese by birth, but sent to Goa as Viceroy, Don Garcia de 
Sa had lived there long enough to know the treacherous natures of 
the Brahmins who dwelt near, and feared to let his child run the risk 
of being found and captured. 

But as Lianor had truly remarked, he loved his daughter so pas¬ 
sionately that he very rarely refused her anything, even though he 
doubted the wisdom of complying with her wishes. 

“ Papa ”—the sweet voice was'very coaxing, and the red lips close 
to his cheek say yes, darling; it will makejne so happy.” 

“ But suppose any danger should threaten you? ” 

“ I should be there to defend mv cousin with my life ! ” Leone 
cried, fervently. 

Don Gracia smiled. 

“You speak bravely, my boy ; but as yet you are very young. How¬ 
ever, as Lianor has set her heart upon this expedition, I suppose I 
must say yes. In case of danger, I will send some soldiers to escort 
you. ” 


WON BY CRIME. 12 $ 

Oh, thank you, papa! I am so glad! Come, Leone, we will 
make haste, so as to set off ere the day gets more advanced. ” 

And warmly embracing her father, the girl sped swiftly away, 
followed by her cousin. 

In half an hour the cortige was ready, and, after some little hesita¬ 
tion on Don Garcia’s part, they started. 

Lianor, with her two favorite maids, Lalli and Tolla, were cosily 
seated in a palanquin carried by four strong men. Before, clearing 
her path from all difficulties, went a body of twenty-five soldiers. 
Beside her, Panteleone kept up a cheerful conversation, pointing out 
the beauties of the palaces through which they passed. Some twenty 
natives, armed with poignards, brought up the rear. 

Toki, a native who had grown old in the Viceroy’s palace, led the 
way toward one of the ruined temples — that erected to Siva, the 
God of Destruction. 

Lianor gazed with awed eyes at the magnificent palace, still bearing 
traces of former beauty. 

“ How wonderful! I must stay here, Leone, and sketch those 
old statues. We need go no farther.” 

The day was beginning to get intensely hot, so the men were nothing 
loth to seek shelter in the cool temple, to sleep away the sunny 
hours. 

Sketch-book in hand, the girl chose a shady retreat outside, and was 
soon lost in her work. 

Presently the dreamy silence was broken; faint cries from afar 
reached her ; and looking hastily up, Lianor saw a sight which made 
her stand rooted to the spot in speechless horror. 

In the distance, pouring from out the mountains, were a multitude 
of Indians clad in divers costumes, .carrying in their hands fantastic 
idols, and followed by a train of Brahmins, singing a low, monotonous 
chant, which had warned the girl of their approach. 

Recovering her self-possession, and calling to the startled servants, 
Lianor entered the temple, where Panteleone and the men were 
quietly dozing. 

“ Leone, awake 1 The Indians are coming! ” 

The youth sprang to his feet, and, flinging one arm round his 
cousin, he drew a sharp poignard from his sash, and clutched it. 
firmly. 

“Do not be afraid, Lianor. I will guard you with my life!” he 
said bravely. 

« But is there no way to escape? ” Lianor asked wildlv. frightened 
at the peril into which her folly had brought them ah. 

<* We might have gone but it is too late. They are here,” Toki 


126 


WON BY CRIME. 


said gravely. “ The only thing we can do is to hide amongst these 
broken statues, and perhaps we may be safe from their view.” 

Scarcely had this been done than the procession arrived, stopped 
before the temple, and the men commenced building a huge square 
pile of wood ; on this they placed a bier, on which lay the corpse of 
an old man, decked with silks and costly jewels. 

Lianor and Panteleone, watching from their hiding-place the strange 
preparations, now saw a girl, very young and beautiful, but weeping 
bitterly, being dragged toward the pile by a tall, hard-looking 
woman. 

“ Come! ” she cried, in loud, ringing tones, “ now is the time to 
uphold the honor of your family, and show your courage! ” 

With a shudder the girl drew back, and clasping her hands pite¬ 
ously together, said: 

“ Why should I thus sacrifice my young life to the cruelty of your 

customs? I cannot endure the thought of being burnt alive_it is 

too horrible! ” 

“ It is your duty! A widow must follow her husband in death,” 
coldly. 

The youthful widow burst into passionate weeping, and gave an 
agonized glance around at the vindictive faces ; not one among that 
multitude, she thought, felt pity for the girl who was condemned to 
so horrible a fate. 

She was mistaken, and a second gaze revealed a young boy, not 
more than fifteen, who was quietly sobbing, an expression of deep 
anguish on his face. 

u Satzavan, my poor brother, you also have come to witness my 
painful end! ” 

The boy went toward her, and wound his arms around her slim 
waist, drawing the dark head onto his shoulder. 

“I would that I could help you,” he whispered. «But what can I 
do among all these fiends? ” 

“ It is hard to die thus — so hard.” 

“ Savitre, I am more compassionate than you think, and I have 
here a draught which will send you into a deep sleep. The pain of 
death will thus be saved you,” Konmia broke in severely, holding a 
vessel toward the girl. 

“No, no!” Savitre shrieked, pushing the potent drink away. “I 
cannot! Think how awful to awaken with the cruel flames wreathing 
round my body, and my cries for help useless, deadened by the yells of 
those people. I cannot — I will not die! ” 

Satzavan, deathly white, and with quivering features, drew her 
Shuddering frame closer to him, and led her into the temple. 


WON BY CRIME. 


127 


“ Leave us for a moment, I implore you,” he said, turning to his 
aunt. “ She loves me, and I may perhaps reconcile her to her fate.” 

“You are the head of your family; I trust to you to bring her to 
reason—to save the honor of a name until now without blemish,” 
Konmia replied, and placing the poisonous flask in Satzavan’s hand, 
she left them alone in the temple. 

“ Quick, Savitre; we will drink this draught together, and when 
they seek you, they will find us both cold in death.” 

“ You also, my brother, speak of death! I must escape —I cannot 
sacrifice my life! ” 

“Nor shall you,” a gentle voice broke in passionately, and 
Lianor, her face full of tender compassion, stood before the victim, 
Panteleone beside her. 

“ Follow me,” the latter said briefly, drawing the girl’s arm through 
his. “ Trust us, and you will yet be saved.” 

With joyful hearts the two Indians accompanied their kind protect¬ 
ors, climbing among the broken gods, higher and higher, until they 
at last arrived without the temple, the other side from where the 
Indians were assembled. 

There they were rejoined by the soldiers and attendants, and the 
little party commenced their homeward journey, hoping the wild 
group would not discover their presence. 

But their hopes were not to be realized ; ere they had gone many 
yards, the flight of the rajah’s widow had been discovered, and with 
hideous cries they sought eagerly to find her. 

It was not long ere they espied the small party, and full of triumph 
dashed toward them. 

“Lianor, keep back — leave me to deal with these barbarians!” 
Panteleone said hurriedly, and in a minute a deadly fight began 
between the Indians and the soldiers. 

But what was their strength against more than five hundred strong 
warriors? Ere long the brave party was captured, and while Konmia 
dragged the terrified girl towards the funereal-pile, the Indians shrieked 
aloud in triumphant gladness. 

“ To-morrow Siva will receive a sacrifice that will remain forever in 
the memory of those now living. To-day, our chief’s widow; to-mor¬ 
row, the Portuguese prisoners! ” 

******** 

After his daughter had gone, Don Garcia was filled with deep regret 
at having succumbed so readily to her wishes. 

A presentiment of evil he could not control made him walk restlessly 
up and down the room. 

A timid knock at the door roused him from his painful musing*. 

Dyke Darrel 9. 


128 


WON BY CRIME. 


“ Come in 1 ” he cried quickly. 

The door opened, and a tall, remarkably handsome man, dressed hi 
the garb of a sea-captain, entered. 

“What, Falcam, is it you, my boy?” the don cried gladly, 
wringing the young man’c hand. 

“ Yes, senor. I have :ome papers from Tonza. There has been a 
slight rising at Diu, but, fortunately, we were able to suppress it in 
time,” handing the don a sealed packet. 

After casting his eyes rapidly over the contents, Don Garcia smiled 
and turned with a pleased look towards the captain. 

“ Manuel tells me of your bravery in saving Diu, and asks me to 
promote you. I will do all I can. I am proud to call you friend. ” 

Luiz flushed, and a bashful light filled his eyes; but, ere he could 
answer, the don continued: 

“ However, you have come in time to be of service to me. My 
daughter, much against my wishes, has gone on an expedition to the 
Temple of Siva. From what I have since heard, I am afraid danger 
threatens my Lianor. Will you help me to rescue her? ” 

“ Will I lay down my life to keep her from harm! Oh, senor, how 
can you ask? Let me start immediately, and ere long I will bring 
your child back in safety, ” fervently. 

Don Garcia was surprised at the young man’s eagerness, but refrained 
from speaking, only to thank him for his kind offer. 

Five minutes later Luiz Falcam, accompanied by a troop of brave 
sailors, started off towards the Temple of Siva. 

As he neared, sounds of strife, mingled with heartrending shrieks, 
broke upon his ears. 

Urging his trusty band, he dashed onward until he arrived at the 
scene of terror. 

Startled by the sudden apparition, the Indians lost, for a time, their 
self-control, and the sailors found it easy to subdue them. 

Luiz had flown at once to Lianor’s side, clasping her frail form 
tightly in his arms, while Panteleone wrenched Savitre from her aunt, 
as she was about to fling her-on the now burning pile. 

Even at the same moment, Satzavan, a smile of revengeful triumph 
on his face, wound a thick scarf over Konmia’s head, and threw her 
with remorseless force into the flames, leaving her to meet the fate 
destined for his sister. 

Those Indians w r ho had not been taken had fled; so the band was 
free to wend its way homeward, though nearly half had been killed in 
the strife. 

Still holding Lianor, now weeping quietly, in his arms, Luiz lad 


WON BY CRIME. 


129 

the way towards the road, where the palanquin stood, and placing 
the girl gently in, raised her white hands passionately to his lips. 

“ Lianor, Lianor, my own darling! ” he murmured, gazing into her 
pallid face with lovelit eyes. “ If I had been too late, and found you 
gone!” 

Lianor smiled tremulously through her tears, and a blush mantled 
to her cheeks. 

“ You have saved my life. I can never repay you,” earnestly. 

Panteleone, still pale and anxious, now appeared leading the little 
widow, who seemed overjoyed at her release. She sank down gladly 
beside Lianor, and then the palanquin was borne away, guarded by 
Luiz and Panteleone, Satzavan walking behind. 

Don Garcia’s delight knew no bounds when he saw the procession 
entering the palace gates, and he ran eagerly to receive his daughter. 

“ My loved child! How unwise I was to let you go, to send you 
into danger,” he cried, carrying her in his arms from the palanquin to 
the marble hall. " If it had not been for our young friend, Falcam, I 
should never have seen you again.” 

“ But, papa, think! If we had not gone, this poor girl would have 
been burnt to death,” Lianor said, shudderingly, drawing Savitre 
towards her. 

“ Ah, yes. Poor child! ” stroking the young widow’s glossy black 
hair. “ Now tell me all about it.” 

“ Not yet, papa. Let us go and arrange our dresses; mine is tom 
completely to pieces,” laughingly holding up a fragment of cashmere, 
which in the struggle had become torn. 

Holding Savitre’s hand in hers, Lianor went swiftly to her rooms, 
where they could bathe their weary limbs in cool water, and change 
their tattered robes. 


CHAPTER II. 

Don Garcia was sitting in his study, regarding with some anxiety 
Luiz Falcam, who, tall and handsome, stood before him. 

"You wish to ask me something, is it not so? Well, speak out, 
and be sure if it is in my power I will grant it.” 

" I hardly like to ask. It is, I know, daring. I am but a captain, 
and you are one of the wealthiest men in India; yet I love your daugh¬ 
ter, and that is what I wished to tell you,” earnestly. 

Don Garcia smiled indulgently, and he gazed kindly at the young 
fellow’s flushed face. 

“ 1 toto you I would give you what you wished, and T will not break 
xny word. I could safely trust Lianor to you. No other man I know 



130 


WON BY CRIME. 


has won so large a place in my esteem. But I dare not speak until I 
know what my daughter thinks. She will answer for herself touching 
so delicate a subject. Tell Donna Lianor to come here,” he said to 
Toki. 

After what seemed an anxious age to poor Luiz, Lianor entered, 
leaning lightly on Savitre, somewhat astonished. 

“ Lianor, may I speak before Savitre?” the don asked gravely. 

“ Of course, papa. I have no secrets from her.” 

“ My child,” drawing her nearer to him, “ Luiz Falcam has asked 
your hand in marriage; what answer shall I give him?” 

Lianor blushed divinely, and her dark eyes shyly drooped before the 
eager glance from those loving blue ones fixed upon her. 

“ He saved my life, father. I will give it gladly to him,” she mur¬ 
mured. 

“ You love him, child?” 

“ Dearly. I shall be proud and happy to become the wife of Luiz,” 
gaining courage. 

“ You have my answer, Falcam. May you be content always. I 
give her to you with pleasure. ” 

In spite of the don’s presence and Savitre’s, Luiz could not refrain 
from drawing the girl into his arms and pressing fervent kisses on her 
smooth brow, and soft cheeks. 

“You shall never repent your choice, darling,” he said tenderly. 
“ I cannot give you wealth, but a true heart and a brave hand are 
solely yours, now and till death! ” 

“ I know, Luiz dear, and to me that gift is more precious than the 
costliest jewels,” the girl whispered fondly. 

Their happiness was not without its clouds; Luiz was compelled to 
leave his betrothed to guard a fort some distance away. 

“ I will return soon, dearest,” he said lovingly, holding the trembling 
girl in his strong arms, “ and then your father has promised our mar¬ 
riage shall take place.” 

“ And you will not run into danger, for my sake?” Lianor pleaded, 
winding her white arms round his neck. “ Think how desolate I 
should be without you! ” 

Don Garcia, having a great liking for the young man, saw him go 
with'some regret. 

“ Don’t stay away longer than you can help,” he said kindly. “ God 
keep you, my boy. ” 

So Luiz parted from his love, and returned to Diu, carrying in his 
heart a cherished memory of Lianor, and a tiny miniature of her in 
his breast-pocket 


WON BY CRIME. 


131 

When he arrived at the governor’s palace, he went directly to 
Manuel Tonza, to inform him of his departure. 

The governor, a tall, dark-looking man of more than thirty, bore 
on his fine features a look of haughty sternness, mingled with some 
cruelty. 

He glanced coldly at the young captain, and listened in silence to 
his explanations; but, as Luiz drew Tom his breast a sealed packet, 
given him by Don Garcia, Lianor’s niniature fell with a crash to the 
ground, the jeweled case flying open. 

Manuel picked it up from the floor with sudden swiftness, and gazed 
admiringly at the pictured face. 

“ Who is this? ” he asked abruptly. 

“ Lianor de Sa, Don Garcia’s daughter. 

“Lianorde Sa, and so beautiful tas this! ” the governor muttered 
inaudibly. “ I forgot she had grown from a child to a woman; I must 
see her. How comes it, though, her miniature is in his hands? 
Surely they could not have betrothed her to a captain! ” 

With a gesture of disdain he flung the miniature on the table, and 
told Luiz his presence-was no longer needed. 

Once alone, and a singular smile crossed the governor’s face. 

“ I must pay Don Garcia a visit. It is long since I saw him. I 
never dreamt his little daughter had grown up so lovply. Thank 
Heaven, I am rich! My jewels and wealth might tempt a queen! I 
need not fear refusal from a viceroy’s daughter.” 

Full of complacent contentment, Tonza made hasty preparations 
for leaving Diu, and that same evening saw him a welcome guest of 
Don Garcia. 

He was charmed with Lianor. 

In spite of himself, a deep passionate love wakened in his heart for 
her, and he determined to win her for his wife. 

First he (wished to gain Don Garcia over to his side, so took an 
early opportunity of speaking to him on the subject. 

The viceroy listened in grave silence, and a look of regret stole into 
his eyes. 

“ I am sorry,” he said gently. “ Why have you come too late? 
My child is already betrothed.” 

“To whom? ” hoarsely. 

“ Luiz Falcam.” 

« But he is only a captain, and poor! Surely you would not sacrifice 
your child to him ? Think what riches I could lay at her feet! As 
my wife, Lianor would be one of the most envied of women. ” 

«I know, and I wish now I had not been so hasty; but Luiz saved 
her life, won my gratitude; then, as the price of his act, asked Lianor’s 


132 


WOK BY CRIME. 


hand. I was forced to consent, as I had said I would give him what¬ 
ever he asked,” with a sigh. 

“ A promise gained like that is not binding. It was taking an 
unfair advantage of your gratitude.” 

“ I do not like to break my promise, but I will do what I can for 
you; I will ask Lianor, and if she cares for you more than for Luiz, she 
shall wed you. ” 

“ Thank you; and I will try hard to gain her dove,” Manuel 
answered hopefully. 

When Lianor heard the subject of the conference between her father 
and Tonza, her indignation was unbounded. 

“ How can you act so dishonorably, papa? ” she cried angrily, 
“after betrothing me to Luiz; now, because Tonza is rich and wishes 
to marry me, you would break your word.” 

“ But, my dear, think how different Manuel is to Falcam! He can 
give you a beautiful home, and jewels such as a queen might envy, 
while the captain can give you nothing.” 

“ He can give me a brave, loving heart, which is worth all the world 
to me! No; while Luiz lives I will be true to him. No other shall 
steal my love from him, ” firmly. 

“ Is that the answer I am to give Tonza? ” 

“Yes. Thank him for the great honor he has done me; but, as I 
cannot marry two men, I choose the one I love — who first won my 
hand and saved my life. ” 

When Manuel heard her answer he was filled with rage and hate. 

“So—so,” he muttered, a sinister look creeping over his face, 

“ she will not wed me while Falcam lives. But should he die — what 
then? ” 

1 o Lianor he was always gentle, trying by soft -words and many 
little attentions to win her regard ; a very difficult task. Since her 
father’s conversation, she shrank as much as possible from him, hoping 
he would understand her studied coldness. 

“Savitre,” she said one evening, as they were dressing for a ball, 
given in her honor, “ that horrid man’s attentions are becoming intoh 
erable! He will not see how I detest him, and am bound by love 
and promise to another. I wish Luiz was here ; he has been away so 
long. I am tired of Tonza’s persistence and papa’s reproaches.” 

Never mind, dearest ; all will be well when your brave lover 
returns. Perhaps he may be even now on the way. I am sure if he 
knew how terribly you were persecuted he would fly to you at once,” 
Savitre whispered softly. 

I feel miserable — unhappy. Lalli, put away those robes and 


WON BY CRIME. 133 

give me a plain black dress. During Luiz’s absence I will put on 
mourning, so Tonza can read the sorrow I feel in my heart.” 

“ But, dear, what will your father say? ” Savitre asked anxiously. 

“ He will be angry, I know. But it is partly his fault I am obliged 
to act thus.” 

In a few minutes Lalli and Tolla had silently arrayed their young 
mistress in trailing black robes, which clung softly to her beautiful 
form. 

No jewelry relieved the somberness of her dress ; her dark hair, 
thick and long, fell like a veil over her shoulders, adding to the 
moumfulness of her garb by its dusky waves. 

Below, in the handsome marble hall, stood Don Garcia and Tonza, 
both watching with suppressed impatience the richly-hung staircase 
leading to Lianor’s apartments. 

“ It is late. I hope nothing has occurred,” Manuel said anxiously, 
drawing the velvet curtain aside to gaze across the hall. 

Even as he did so, Lianor, leaning lightly on Satzavan’s shoulder, 
appeared, her graceful head held proudly erect, an expression of 
supreme indifference on her face. 

Both men started with an exclamation of alarm — rage on Manuel’s 
part. 

“ What! In mourning, and for a ball? ” Manuel gasped with rising 
passion. 

“ Lianor, what does this farce mean? Why have you disguised 
yourself? How dare you disobey me when I said so particularly I 
wished you to appear at your best? I have been too weakly indulgent 
with you, and now you take advantage of my tenderness to disgrace 
me by showing my guests your foolish infatuation for a man to whom 
I now wish I had never promised your hand.” 

Lianor lifted her reproachful eyes to his, her pale face, even whiter 
in contrast with her somber dress, full of resolute rebellion. 

«I am not ungrateful, papa, for your kindness, but I will never 
forget the promise I gave Luiz. My love is not to be bought for 
gold ; I gave it willingly to the man to whom you betrothed me, and, 
father, none of our family have ever acted dishonorably; so I am sure 
you will not be the first to break your word.” 

“ Do not be too sure of that, Lianor. I am more than half inclined 
to make you accept Tonza, and forget your vows were ever plighted 
to that pauper captain. ” 

“You could not be so hard, knowing how my happiness is bound 
tip in him. I will never, while Luiz lives, give my hand to another.” 

“Thank you, Lianor; nor will Falcam let you,” a deep voice 
broke in suddenly, and Luiz, his face flushed with mingled pleasure 


134 


WON BY CRIME. 


and disgust, came toward her, followed by his bosom friend, Diniz 
Sampayo, a young and rich noble. 

Lianor threw herself into his arms with a glad cry, while Don 
Garcia and Manuel, full of rage, stole away, leaving the lovers 
alone. 

“ My darling, then I heard truly when they said my own dear love 
was being forced to wed another. Thank Heaven, I left Diu at 
once, and came to you, as your father seems inclined to listen to 
Manuel’s suit,” Luiz said tenderly, bending to kiss the pale face. 

“ I am so glad you have come, Luiz! I felt so lonely without you 
near me, to give me hope and courage.” 

“ My poor little love! But why these robes, Lianor? I thought it 
was a day of festival at the palace?” 

“I know; but I was determined, during your absence, to keep 
Tonza from paying me his odious attentions by putting on mourning. 
He could not fail to see where my thoughts were. Now you have 
returned, I will throw them aside, and show them it is a time of 
rejoicing with me. Wait, Luiz.” 

With a tender smile the young lover unclasped her slender form and 
let her glide swiftly away. 

But not long did he wait; soon the curtains were again lifted, and 
Lianor, radiant as a bright star, in trailing robes of white and gold, 
diamonds flashing on her bare arms and round her delicate throat, 
came towards him. 

“ My queen, my own dear love! what should I do if they took you 
from me? ” passionately pressing her hands to his lips. 

“ They will never do that, Luiz. I am determined not to allow 
Tonza to win my father over to his way of thinking.” 

Manuel Tonza watched the happy lovers with bitterest hate gnaw¬ 
ing at his heart, deadly schemes against his fortunate rival flitting 
through his subtle brain. 

Late that night, when the weary guests were parting, Tonza stole 
noiselessly from the palace; and when he returned, in less than half 
an hour, his face were an expression of fiendish triumph and delight. 

He was even polite to Luiz, much to that young man’s surprise, 
though he doubted the sincerity of Manuel’s words. 

Happy and content, after a tender adieu to Lianor, the captain left 
the viceroy’s palace, to seek his own apartments. 

. Not far had he gone, however, when a shadow stole silently behind 
him, and the next moment he felt himself suddenly grasped by power¬ 
ful hands and flung to the ground. 

Almost stunned by the fall, he was yet able to see the dark face 
bending over him. 


WON BY CRIME* 


135 


From the shadows came another form, one he recognized. A 
g?eaming poignard was placed in the assassin’s hand, which descended 
ere he could break from that strong hold, and was buried deep in his 
heart. 

Guiltily two forms glided away in opposite directions, leaving Luiz, 
pale and cold, lying in a stream of blood — dead! 

****** * * * * * 

It was still early when Lianor awoke; but in spite of the drowsiness 
overpowering her, she hastily rose, and calling her maids, bade them 
quickly arrange her toilet. 

“ I am restless, and cannot stay longer indoors; I wish to be out in 
the fresh air,” she explained to Savitre, who entered soon after. 

Scarcely, however, had they arrived without the palace gates, than 
Diniz Sampayo, his face pale and haggard, eyes full of fear and anguish, 
came hastily to her side. 

“ Donna Lianor, return to your father’s house; I have something 
to tell you which I dare not breathe here—it is too horrible! Prepare 
yourself for a great shock, my poor child! I wish some one else had 
brought the awful tidings,” he cried hoarsely. 

Lianor stood perfectly still, and her eyes grew wide and her face 
blanched with awakened fear. Clasping her hands piteously together, 
she said: 

“ Tell me now. I am brave — can bear anything! Is it Luiz? Is 
he ill -—in danger ? Oh, Diniz, for pity’sjjsake tell me! ” 

Diniz took the trembling hands in his, and quietly bidding the 
others follow, led her silently through the town, until they arrived at 
the house where Luiz had taken rooms with his friend. 

“ Perhaps it is best you should see him. Poor Luiz l How can I 
break the awful truth to you? Your betrothed — the man you loved 
— is dead — murdered by a cowardly hand on his way home from your 
father’s palace ! ” 

Lianor grew deathly pale. 

“ Dead! ” she repeated, clasping her hands despairingly to her throb¬ 
bing brow. “It cannot be true! My darling dead — murdered! ” 

“ My poor child, it is only too true! This morning he was found, 
and brought home, stabbed through the heart! ” 

“But who could have done it?” Savitre asked in a low, hushed 
whisper. 

“ I wish I knew. But, alas! that is a mystery! ” 

Lianor gazed helplessly from one to the other, then, breaking from 
her friend’s gentle hold, staggered forward. 

“ Where are you going, Lianor? ” Diniz asked, anxiously. 

** To him. I must see for myself the terrible truth. ” 


WON BY CRIME. 


136 

“ Can you bear it? ” 

« Yes—oh, yes! ” 

Very tenderly Diniz took one of the trembling hands in his, and led 
her toward a darkened chamber, where, on the blue-draped bed, lay 
the still form of his young friend. 

A convulsive shudder shook Lianor’s slender frame as she gazed on 
those handsome features set in death’s awful calm; the closed eyes, 
which would never look into her own again ; the cold lips which 
would never breathe loving words into her ear, or press her brow in 
fond affection. 

She could not weep, as Savitre wept ; tears refused to ease the 
burning pain at her heart. Only a low moan broke from her as she 
threw herself suddenly over that loved body. 

“ My love — my darling! Why did I ever let you leave me? How 
can I live without you? ” 

“ Hush, Lianor! Come, you can do nothing here. But one thing 
I promise you, I will avenge his death at any cost! The murderer 
will be found and punished — no matter who it is!” Diniz cried, 
earnestly. 

“ Thank you; and if I can aid, rely on my help,” Lianor murmured, 
bravely. 

Then, bending reverently to press a last kiss on the pallid brow, 
she allowed Diniz to lead her from the room to her own home. 

In the hall they were met by Don Garcia, in a terrible state of anxi¬ 
ety for his daughter. 

“ Where have you been, Lianor? What is the matter? You look 
ill! And what is that? ” pointing to a vivid red stain which marred 
the white purity of her dress. 

A low, delirious laugh broke from the girl’s pale lips, and, stretching 
out her arms, she waved Don Garcia back. 

“Do not touch me!” she cried, hoarsely. “He—my love, my 
darling — is dead! See, his life-blood stains my hands — my robe! 
Oh, heavens, that I should have lived to know such agony! ” 

She stopped; the outstretched arms fell inertly down, the graceful 
head drooped, and without one cry or moan, Lianor fell heavily to the 
ground—unconscious. 

“Explain, Savitre —Sampayo, what means this strange raving? 
Who is dead? ” Don Garcia said, fearfully. 

“It means that Luiz Falcam was found murdered this morning! 
Your daughter went to see him for the last time, and returns, over¬ 
come with grief and sorrow. ” 

Without a word, but very white, the viceroy carried his child to her 


WON BY CRIME. 


137 

room, and left her in the care of Savitre and her two attendants, 
while he went to find the particulars of Falcam’s tragic end. 

For days and weeks Lianor kept to her rooms, seeing no one except 
her father and Sampayo, whom she looked upon as the avenger of 
Luiz. 

Long and tenderly was her lover’s memory sorrowed over, until the 
once beautiful girl was but a mere wraith. 

A few weeks later Don Garcia himself was taken ill, and one day, 
feeling slightly better, he sent for his daughter, to whom he wished 
to speak on important business. 

He was not kept long waiting. Lianor soon appeared, looking like 
a crushed flower in her somber robes. 

“You wished to see me, papa? ” 

“Yes, Lianor; but you can-almost guess for what. You know how 
much I desire to see you wedded to my friend; a man who loves you 
and will make you happy. I shall not live long, of that I feel sure. 
Manuel Tonza has waited patiently, and I think it is only right you give 
him hope. To-day you will accept his hand, and in another week, 
with my consent, you will become his wife. ” 

Lianor reeled against the bed, and held firmly to the silken curtains 
to prevent herself falling. 

“ Do you mean this, father? His wife — when he murdered Luiz?” 

“ What nonsense are you saying, child? Do not let me hear you 
speak like this again. What motive could a wealthy man like Tonza 
have in getting rid of one of his own employes? Grief has turned your 
brain. Cast aside those weird garments, and in three hours be ready 
to receive your future husband.” 

A low, gasping cry fell on his ears as he finished speaking, and he 
turned in time to see the slight figure sway to and fro, then fall heavily 
to the ground. 

But what use was her feeble strength against the powerful wills of 
two determined men? 

Ere the day was over, Lianor, with a heart full of bitter, despairing 
grief for Luiz, was bound by a sacred promise to a man whom she knew 
to be both bad and selfish—whom she hated! 


CHAPTER III. 

In one of the many straggling streets, almost hidden behind a few 
large shops of curious build, stood a small boutique full of ancient 
relics and jeweled bric-a-brac. 

Inside, seated by the counter, writing in a large ledger, was an old 



WON BY CRIME,, 


138 

man, whose hooked nose and piercing eyes proclaimed him at once to 
be from the tribe of Israel. 

This Jew, Phenee, was not alone. Flitting about the shop, arrang- 
ing the antique curiosities, was a young and vexy beautiful girl, with 
delicate features and lustrous, black eyes. 

“ Can I help you, grandfather? ” the girl asked, suddenly stopping 
before the desk, and leaning both dimpled arms on the dusty book. 

“No, no, Miriam; I have almost finished. Leave me for a few 
moments’ quiet.” 

Miriam sank gently on a high chair, and drooping her head pen¬ 
sively on her hand, sat for some time in unbroken silence, gazing out 
through the open door at the motley crowds passing by. 

Suddenly a dusky form, clad in the garb of a fisherman, entered, 
and drawing near Phenee, glanced nervously around. 

“ I wish to sell that. How much will you give me for it? ” laying 
a jeweled poignard, with a golden chain attached, on the desk. 

Phenee took it up and examined it attentively, then looked search- 
ingly at the man. 

Satisfied at his scrutiny, the Jew named a vei'y low price, one which 
his customer had some hesitation in accepting; but at last, seeing 
Phenee was obdurate, he took the offered money, and glided off like a 
spectre. 

“ What a curious poignard, and how pretty! ” Miriam said, lifting 
it from the scales, where Phenee had placed it. “ I am surprised he 
took so little for it.” 

“ I’m not. One can’t offer too little forstolen goods.” 

“ Do you think this is stolen? ” 

“ I am sui-e it is. That man never came honestly by it.” 

Scarcely had the poignard been put on one side, when two young 
men, handsomely dressed, entered the shop, and asked for some 
emeralds. 

“ While you are choosing, I will have a look round at all these 
curiosities, Miguel,” the youngest of the men remarked. 

“ As you like; I shan’t, be long, Diniz«” 

Sampayo nodded, and commenced his search, turning over every 
object that took his fancy, ided by Miriam. 

“I will show you something very curious — a poignard strangely 
fashioned,” the girl said, drawing the weapon her grandfather had 
just bought from its hiding place. 

Diniz took it up and examined it attentively, then a low cry broke 
from his lips, and his face grew pale. 

u Where did you get this? u 


WON BY CRIME. 139 

“ I have just bought it. It is a very pretty toy for a gentleman,” 
Phenee broke in persuasively. 

With almost eager haste Diniz bargained for the poignard, and at 
last managed to bring the Jew down to ten times the sum he had given 
the fisherman. 

After his friend, Miguel Reale, had chosen the jewels he wanted, 
Diniz hurried him away. 

Not many hours later, as the young Jewess sat alone, her grand¬ 
father having gone some distance off on business, she was startled by 
Sampayo suddenly reappearing, a look of intense anxiety on his face. 

“Senora,” he said politely, drawing from his breast the poignard, 
“ can you tell me from whom your father bought this? ” 

“ I do not know his name, but I believe he is a fisherman and lives 
in yonder village,” Miriam answered simply. 

“ Should you know him again? Pardon my asking, but it is very 
important I should discover the owner of this weapon. By doing so 
I may be able to bring a murderer to meet his doom, and avenge the 
death of my best friend! ” 

Miriam gazed at him compassionately, a serious light in her dark 
eyes. 

“ I will help you,” she said suddenly, moved as it were by a strange 
impulse; “I have long wished for occupation — some useful work, 
though I should have liked something less terrible than helping to 
trace a murderer; still, I will aid you if I can.” 

“ Thank you. But if he never came here again? ” 

“ I shall not wait for that. To-morrow I will visit those huts in 
which the fishermen dwell; I may then find the man who sold the 
poignard, or at least a clew to the mystery. ” 

Diniz took one of the small hands in his, and pressed it reverently 
to his lips. 

« You will not go alone ; I will be your companion. Together we 
shall work better. But your father will he consent to your accom¬ 
panying me ? ” 

“ My grandfather loves me too dearly, and trusts me too fully, to 
refuse me anything. He need not know the errand upon which I am 
bent,” a faint blush rising to her cheeks. 

After making all necessary arrangements for the next day, Sampayo 
left the Jewess, to wait impatiently until the hour arrived for him to 
start on his melancholy errand. 

It was still early when he left the crowed streets, to walk quickly 
in the direction of a small fishing village, some distance off. 

Half way he saw the tall, graceful figure of a young girl, whose 
long veil of soft silky gauze hid her face from passers-by. 


WON BY CRIME. 


140 

He recognized her at once — it was the beautiful Jewess. So, hast¬ 
ening his steps, he soon stood before her. 

Senora, ” he said gently. 

The girl started, turned, then smiled through the screening folds of 
gray. 

“ It is you? I was afraid you would not come,” in a relieved 
tone. 

“ I am too anxious to find that man, to lose the chance you have so 
kindly given me. I only hope I am not putting you to any inconve¬ 
nience,’’Diniz said, gallantly. 

“ Not at all. I am only too happy to be of some use,” earnestly. 

For many hours they wandered about from house to house, Miriam 
having armed herself with a large sum of money, hoping by acts of 
charity to gain access into the poor dwellings. 

They were almost despairing of finding a clew'to the whereabouts 
of the fisherman, when three little children, poor and hungry-looking, 
playing outside a tiny hut, attracted Miriam’s attention. 

Stooping, she spoke gently to the little things, and won from them 
the tale of their excessive poverty, which she promised to relieve if 
they would take her to their mother. 

This they willingly did, and Miriam found a pale, delicate-looking 
woman, who, notwithstanding the raggedness of her dress, still bore 
traces of having been at one time different to a poor fisherman’s 
wife. 

Encouraged by the soft tones of her mysterious visitor, the woman 
gradually unburdened her troubled heart by telling her the history of 
her wretched life ; how she had been doomed to follow her husband, 
an Indian chief, to death; but, loving life better, she escaped with her 
little children, but would have died of hunger on the seashore if 
Jarima, her second husband, had not rescued her and offered her his 
name and home. 

“ He is very good to me and my children; the past seems but a 
dream now. If only we had money, all would be well ” 

Miriam, with a few gentle, consoling words, slipped a few bright 
coins into the tiny brown hands of the astonished babies; then, with 
a sigh, she bade the grateful mother adieu and went out to where 
Diniz was waiting. 

He read by her face that she had no better tidings, and, drawing 
her hand through his arm, he turned away. 

* Wil1 ^ never come —the proof I want?” he said, half bitterly. 

Scarcely had the words left his lips when a glad cry of “ Father!” 
rent the air, and three small forms bounded over the white shingle 
towards a tall man, dressed in white linen. 


WON BY CRIME. 141 

Almost convulsively Miriam pressed Sampayo’s arm to arrest his 
hasty steps. 

“ We need go no farther,” she whispered. “ That is the man you 
want; and if he is that woman’s husband, his name is Jarima.” 

“Thank Heaven! To-morrow he will be arrested and the truth 
discovered,” Diniz muttered. 

Silently they watched the man walk towards his humble home, the 
children clinging lovingly to his hands. The woman came forward 
with a bright smile, holding up her face to receive his caress. 

“ There can be no doubt. It is Jarima, and the man who sold the 
poignard. ” 

“ Luiz’s murderer,” Dinis added between his set teeth. 

Almost feverishly Sampayo hurried Miriam away. He was anxious 
to tell Lianor of his success, and bring the assassin to justice. 

Some distance from the Jew’s shop he bade Miriam adieu, promis¬ 
ing to call and let her know the result. 

On reaching Don Garcia’s palace Diniz was surprised at the sounds 
of bright music, mingled with happy voices, that floated on the air 

Satzavan was the first to meet him, and he went forward with a 
welcoming smile. 

“ Where is Lianor?” Diniz asked anxiously, glancing round the 
deserted halls. 

“ In the grounds. Don Garcia has his home full of guests in honor 
of his daughter’s betrothal with Manuel Tonza.” 

“ Lianor betrothed, and to him! ” in consternation. 

“Yes,” sadly; “her father has commanded her to accept him, and, 
since she lost poor Falcam, she is indifferent whom she weds.” 

“ But Tonza above all other men! ” bitterly. 

With a dark shadow on his brow, Diniz followed the young Indian 
into the spacious grounds, where Lianor, surrounded by many richly- 
dressed ladies, was sitting. 

“ I cannot speak to her before all those people. Go, Satzavan, and 
bring her to me.” 

The youth darted off obediently, and presently returned to the tree 
where Diniz stood almost hidden by its shady branches, leading 
Lianor, whose face wore a look of some wonder. 

“ Diniz, is it really you? Have you brought me any news?” she 
asked eagerly. 

Sampayo took her outstretched hand and kissed it reverently. 

“ Yes,”he said softly; “ good news.” 

“What is it? Tell me!” 

“I have discovered the man who, I think, struck the blow by 


i 42 


WON BY CRIME. 


instigation vf the real murderer. Until he is taken I can do nothing 
further. ” 

“ But who is he? How did you find him?” 

“ He is a poor fisherman, named Jarima, and it was through a young 
Jewess, Phenee’s grandchild, to whom the poignard was sold, I found 
him. ” 

“ That was very good of her to help you.” 

“ It was, indeed. The whole morning she has searched with me for 
the man, and at last our labor was rewarded. To-morrow Jarima 
will be under arrest. ” 

As the words left his lips, a sudden movement amongst the trees 
startled them. 

“ I am sure that was some one,” Lianor cried, turning pale, and 
clasping Diniz’s arm. 

Satzavan glided noiselessly away, but soon returned to say no one 
had passed by. 

Possibly the noise was occasioned by the wind rustling through the 
leaves. 

“Verylikely,’’Lianor said quietly, “though it made me nervous. 
Suppose any one overheard us? ” 

“ Rest assured, dear, that nothing now can come between me and 
my revenge. But, Lianor, is it true you are betrothed to Tonza?” 

“ Yes, Diniz, it is true. Papa has commanded me to accept him. I 
hate him; but now poor Luiz is dead, I care not who becomes my 
husband,” hopelessly. 

“ I wish it were other than Tonza, Lianor: I cannot trust him; nor 
will I believe but what he had a hand in Luiz’s death. ” 

“ That is what I think, but papa says it is only fancy ; Manuel is 
too upright to do such a treacherous thing. ” 

A silvery laugh broke suddenly on the silence which had fallen 
between them, and Savitre, leaning lightly on Panteleone’s arm, stood 
before them. 

The rajah’s young widow made a strange contrast to Lianor, gay 
with rich colors. * 

Judging from Panteleone’s ardent gaze, he, at least, saw some beauty 
in the dusky, changing face. 

“ What, Sampayo! I did not know you were here,” the young man 
cried gladly, seizing Diniz’s hand in a warm grip. “ Have you brought 
good news? ” 

“Yes, better than I expected,” Diniz answered; and briefly re¬ 
counted the success which had attended his morning’s search. 

“ I do not wish to meet your father to-night, Lianor; until this busi¬ 
ness is settled, I could not enter into any amusement. First, I will go 



WON BY CRIME. 143 

to Henrique Ferriera, the magistrate, and arrange with him about 
Jarima’s capture.” 

“But you will come to-morrow, will you not — to tell me the 
result? ” Lianor asked anxiously. 

“ Assuredly; unless anything serious prevents me.” 

“ Thank you,” she murmured gratefully. 

A kind hand-pressure from all, and Sampayo walked quickly away; 
while Lianor, her heart somewhat lightened by this news, returned to 
her father’s guests with Satzavan. 

Savitre would have followed, but Panteleone held her back with a 
few whispered words, and, nothing loth, the little widow sauntered 
with him through the shady grounds, apart from the rest. 

“Savitre,” Leone said suddenly, “would you be willing to leave 
your country— to go with me to Portugal? ” 

Savitre gazed at him in some wonderment. 

“ Surely you are not thinking of leaving India? ” she cried, a sudden 
anxiety dawning in her dark eyes. 

“Yes; my father wishes me to return, and as soon as Lianor is 
married we are going. ” 

The girl remained silent; only a few pearly tears rolled down her 
cheeks. 

“ Savitre, dearest one, do not weep! Would it be so dreadful for 
you to quit the country?” 

“ It is not that,” with a stifled sob; “ but I had not thought of your 
leaving us, or the friendship between us being broken.” 

“Nor will it, my darling! Don’t you understand? I love you too 
dearly to give you up; I want you to be my wife, so that none can 
part us. Say my hopes are not all in vain! ” 

A vivid flush mantled the clear, dark skin, and the lustrous eyes 
drooped in confusion. 

“You really mean that? You love me, a girl who is not even of 
your own kind?” 

“ I love you with all my heart and soul. Ever since the day when It 
drew you half-fainting from off the already lighted pile, I have felt 
my affection growing deeper and deeper, until it has absorbed my 
whole being. My happiness is never complete unless I am near you. 
Tell me, darling, that you return my love! ” 

“How could I help but love you — you who saved my life? Oh, 
Leone, you cannot think how proud I am at being chosen by you 
before all others! ” 

With a joyous exclamation, Panteleone drew her to his breast, 
pressing passionate kisses on her brow, cheeks, and lips, his heart 
thrilling with rapture at the realization of his dreams. 

Dyke Darrel ic. 


WON BY CRIME, 


144 


CHAPTER IV. 

The next morning a small band of soldiers, headed by Henrique 
Ferriera, wound their way toward the humble home of Jarima. 

On arriving, they found to their astonishment the door fastened 
close, and no one to answer their knock. 

u Never mind, break it down,” Henrique said, roughly. 

In obedience a few heavy blows fell on the woodwork, which soon 
gave way beneath their force. 

Stepping over the scattered splinters, Henrique saw a sight which 
filled him with horror. 

Crouching on the bare floor, her hands twined convulsively in her 
long hair, was a woman, with three sleeping children leaning against 
her. 

On a hard straw mattress, almost in shadow, lay Jarima, his face 
covered with blood, which oozed in streams from his mouth. 

Henrique gazed for an instant on the awful sight, then turned 
towards his men. 

“We have arrived a little too late; blind men cannot see, or dumb 
ones tell tales. Some horrible wretch has done this deed, fearful of 
his betraying them. I wonder who?” 

The woman, when questioned, could tell them nothing. She only 
knew her husband had been brought home in his present condition at 
daybreak, and remained unconscious since. 

“ I regret to say it is our painful duty to take him; every care will 
be given him. He is suspected of having murdered Luiz Falcam.” 

“No, no; you are mistaken! It is some one else, not he. Jarima 
was much too gentle to kill any one! ” the woman cried, passionately. 

Her prayers and supplications were unavailing. Henrique was 
obliged to do his duty, and bade his men take the suffering man to 
prison. 

Some hours later, as Diniz stood in his room, just before setting 
out m search of Henrique, that man entered the house, followed by 
several soldiers. 

“ Diniz Sampayo, I arrest you on the charge of having stolen a 
poignard, set with jewels, from Manuel Tonza de Sepulveda.” 

Diniz started, and flushed angrily. 

“ I steal? When you know it is the weapon I bought from Phenee^ 
the Jew, as proof against the murderer. ” 

“ So you said; but we have heard another tale to that. Any* 


WON BY CRIME. 


H 5 


how, if you are innocent, you will be set free as soon as you are 
tried.” 

“ But the man Jarima? Have you not been for him?” 

“ Yes, but he is useless; when we arrived, someone had been before 
US, and not only blinded him, but cut out his tongue, so that he could 
not speak. ” 

“ How horrible! How could any one have been so cold-blooded? u 
Diniz gasped, turning pale. 

“ Evidently it was done for some purpose. But come, Sampayo, I 
cannot wait here.” 

“ Will nothing I say convince you I am innocent? If innocence 
gives strength, I shall soon be at liberty. ” 

Henrique smiled scornfully, and hurried the young man away. 

“You will not be alone; your prison-cell is shared by another— 
Phenee, the Jew. An old friend of yours, is he not? ” Henrique 
asked. 

“Friend — no! I have only spoken to him once in my life. What 
is he arrested for? ” 

“ Being a receiver of stolen goods, ” grimly. 

Diniz thought suddenly of Miriam, and wondered how she would 
bear this blow. Her only relative and dearly-loved parent torn from 
her side, to linger in a damp cell. How bitterly he blamed himself for 
having been the cause of Phenee’s capture! If he had not disclosed 
the secret of Phenee having bought the poignard from Jarima, no one 
would have suspected him. 

“ Poor girl! She will regret now having helped a stranger, who, in 
return, has brought her only grief and desolation,” he murmured, 
sorrowfully. 

Miriam passed nearly three days in sad thought, when her solitary 
mourning was broken by the visit of a thickly-veiled woman, whose 
low, sweet tones fell like softest music on Miriam’s ear 

“ Are you alone? ” she asked, glancing questioningly round the 
room. 

“ Yes. Did you want me? ” 

“ I do, very badly. I remembered only to-day that you once proved 
a true friend to Diniz Sampayo, and I came to know if you would 
again aid him? ” throwing back her veil, and disclosing a pale, sweet 
face, stamped by deepest grief. 

“ Diniz Sampayo! But is he, then, in need of help — in danger? ” a 
sudden fear lighting up her face. 

“Yes, he is in prison,” sadly. 

“You are sure? How can it be possible? What has he done?” 
in amazed wonder. 


146 


WON BY CRIME. 


<{ He nas aone nothing. Only his enemies have thrown the suspi* 
cion of his having stolen a poignard from Manuel Tonza — a poignard 
which 1 know he bought here. It is my fault this has happened. It 
was to avenge the death of the man I loved—his dearest friend— 
that he placed his life in peril!“ 

“ I remember well. It is quite true he bought it here, soon after 
Jarima, the fisherman, had sold it to my grandfather. He, poor dear, 
is also in sorrow, imprisoned for having received stolen goods, as if 
he could tell when things are stolen! ” indignantly. 

“I am very sorry, Miriam; but if you help me, you will help your 
grandfather also,” Lianor urged gently. 

“I will!” Miriam cried firmly; “I will never give up until I have 
them both safely outside that odious prison! ” 

Lianor gazed with grateful affection at the girl’s expressive face, 
which now wore such a look of determined courage. 

“ If I can do anything, let me know directly,” Lianor said, gently. 
** Gold may perhaps be useful, and I have much.” 

“ Thank you, but I am rich; and I know grandfather would lose all, 
rather than his liberty. You are Don Garcia’s daughter, are you 
not?” 

“ Yes,” somewhat sadly. “ You know me?” 

“ By sight, yes. ” 

“I shall see you again, I hope,” Lianor -said, as Miriam followed 
her to the door. “ You will tell me of your success or failure?” 

“ Yes; I will come or write.” 

When her charming visitor had gone, Miriam returned to her seat, 
a pained expression on her bright face. 

“He also there. Poor Diniz! But I will save him yet,” deter¬ 
minedly. 

Hastily opening a heavy iron box, she drew out a handful of gold. 

Placing this in her* pocket, she softly left the house, and scarcely 
knowing what instinct prompted her, she hurried towards a small 
hotel not far from the sea. 

“ Can you tell me,” she began breathlessly to a sunburnt man stand, 
ing near, “ if there are any ships leaving here to-morrow?” 

“I don’t know, senora. I will inquire,” he answered politely, and 
after an absence of about ten minutes, he returned to say “ that Cap¬ 
tain Moriz, of the Eagle, was even then preparing for departure on the 
morrow.” 

“ Where does he live?” Miriam said, eagerly. 

“ He is staying at this hotel at present. ” 

** Do you think I could see him? It is very important.** 

" I dare say. You can at least try," smilingly. 


WON BY CRIME. 147 

The Jewess thanked her good-natured commissioner, and lightly 
ascended the steps. 

“ I wish to see Captain Moriz. Is he in?” 

“ I think so,” the man answered after one quick glance at Miriam; 
“I will inquire. ” 

Miriam waited with growing impatience until the man returned, 
and was relieved when she heard that the captain was not only there, 
but would see her. 

With wildly beating heart the girl followed her conductor to a large, 
darkly-furnished room, where, by a table scattered v/ith papers, sat a 
tall, bronzed seaman. 

“I believe you are leaving India to-morrow? Would you mind 
telling me where you are going?” 

“To Africa,” a look of surprise crossing his face. 

“ Are you going to take passengers?” 

“ That was not my intention. ” 

“ But if any one asked you, would you refuse?” 

“ I don’t know. I did not want any one on board,” Moriz an¬ 
swered uneasily. 

“ If you knew it would do some one a great service? I am rich, 
and w'ould pay you well; so do not hesitate on that account.” 

“Is it you who wish to go?” 

“Miriam blushed, and bit her lip angrily, She had not intended to 
betray her secret so soon. 

“Yes, it is I, and two other people. Will you take us, and let us 
down on one of those small islands on the coast, where no one would 
find us?” 

Moriz hesitated; but he could not withstand the eager pleading in 
the slumbrous eyes, the intense pathos in the sweet voice. 

“Yes,” he said at last, very slowly, “ I will take you on board; bu/ 
you must be ready by to-morrow night. I cannot wait for stragglers,’ 
trying to force much severity into his tones. 

“ Oh, thank you! I am content now. Do not fear; we shall be in 
time. Until then adieu,” she said softly. 

And, with a graceful bow, she departed. 

Her next step was in the direction where Phenee was confined. 

She found no difficulty in finding the jailer, a hard-looking man 
enough, though Miriam thought she could see a gentle expression in 
his eyes when they rested on two young children, whose pale, wasted 
features gave evidence of close confinement in that dreary place. 

“I may win him yet by those little ones,” she murmured; “gold 
will have power to touch his heart for their sakes. ” 

“You wished to see me, senora? ” 


148 


WON BY CRIME. 


** Yes. ^ want you to answer a few questions. First, have you not 
got Phenee, the Jew, and Diniz Sampayo here?” 

“ Yes, senora.” 

“ Are they together? ” 

“ No, senora.” 

“ Could it be possible for you to set them free, without fear of 
detection? ” eagerly. 

“Yes, senora; but I am not a traitor.” 


“ But think, Vincent: my poor grandfather has done no harm, and 
he will perish in that horrible place, though innocent. And the Senor 
Sampayo, as I have proof, bought the poignard himself from my 
grandfather. Why, then, should you say he stole it?” indignantly. 

“ It is not I who accused him; my duty here is to guard the prison¬ 
ers—not to try them.” 

“Vincent,” Miriam continued, in a low, pleading voice, “you are 
poor; your little children are pining for want of fresh, pure air. I am 
rich, and can give you enough money to live in comfort away from this 
close den. Release my friends, and the power of saving your children 
shall be yours. Look! ” drawing one of the wondering girls to her 
side, see how pale and thin she is! Can you refuse my offer when 
the lives of those you love depend upon it? ” 

Vincent felt the truth of her words, and knew the only things he 
cherished on earth, those innocent children, were slowly fading and 
pining away for want of fresh air. 

The man raised his head, and glanced earnestly at the moved ex¬ 
pressive face, then in a low, hoarse voice he muttered: 


“ Be it so. I will help the prisoners to escape. I cannot see my 
little ones dying before my eyes, when an opportunity is given me to 
save them. ” 


“ Then to-morrow at sunset you will bring them to the Golden 
Lion. I will be there, ready with the money. ” 

“ I will not fail, senora. May Heaven forgive me if I am doing 
wrong! ” 

After a few instructions, the happy girl went swiftly away, but ere 
she had moved far, she returned, and paused before Vincent. 

“I forgot to ask you about that poor man, Jarima,” she said, 
gravely. 


“He did not live long, senora, after he was brought here.” 

“ And his wife — children? ” 

“ Of them I know nothing, ” he answered quietly. 

Fre she continued her homeward way, Miriam sped swiftly toward 
Jarima’s poor home, and knocked gently at the door. 


WON BY CRIME 14 

It was opened by the eldest of the three children, and forcing 1 
purse of money into his brown hand, the girl whispered sweetly: 

44 For your mother, little one; from a friend,” then moved silently 
away, hurrying homeward to await patiently for the long hours to 
pass, ere her grandfather would be released. 

Vincent, true to his word, gathered his few belongings together, 
and when the evening came, went softly to the cells in which his 
prisoners lay, and, setting them free, told them to follow him. 

Wondering, yet glad, Phenee, leaning on Diniz’s arm for support, 
slowly obeyed the jailer, who, accompanied by his two children, led 
them toward the hotel Miriam had named. 

There, sure enough, the young Jewess was waiting, and after ten¬ 
derly embracing Phenee, and smiling softly at Diniz, she turned to 
Vincent and placed a bag of gold in his hand. 

“This is your reward. May you and your little ones live in happi¬ 
ness!” she said earnestly. 

“We leave Goa to-night, senora. My life would be worth nothing 
if I stay here after this. Good-by, and thank you for your gener¬ 
osity.” 

Miriam hastened her grandfather to the ship, shocked at his feeble¬ 
ness; but for Sampayo he would scarcely have been able to get there. 

Only once he spoke to the girl ere he retired to his cabin for the 
night. 

“The money and jewels, Miriam — what have you done with 
them? ” 

“ They are here, grandfather. I brought everything of value away 
with me.” 

“ That is right, child. You are a good girl! ” 

Miriam stood rather sadly beside the bulwarks, gazing at the land 
in which she had been born, and which she was now leaving forever. 

A low sigh broke from her lips. 

« Why do you sigh? Are you sorry to quit your native land? ” a 
voice whispered in her ear. 

“Yes; though for my grandfather’s sake I cannot deeply regret it,” 
Miriam answered, gazing at Diniz with tear-dimmed eyes. 

“ I have not thanked you yet for having released me from that 
dreadful place, or even a worse doom. I am still scarcely able to 
realize my good fortune. What made you, a stranger, think of one 
whom all others had forgotten? ” 

« Not alL It was Donna Lianor who told me where you were, 
and asked me to help you,” Miriam said, blushing beneath his tender, 
grateful gaze. Besides, I looked upon you as a friend,” almost inaud- 
Jbly. ... 


WON BY CRIME. 


So 

“ That is what I want to be—your friend. And Lianor — how h 
she ? — well? ” 

u As well as it is possible to be under the heavy trial she went 
through this morning. She was married to Manuel Tonza, ” sadly. 

“ Poor girl! Poor Lianor 1 Hers is indeed an unhappy lot! ” 
Diniz murmured pityingly. 


CHAPTER V. 

In a large, handsome room, overlooking a shining river, now ablaze 
with sunshine, sat a beautiful woman, wearing on her face unmistak¬ 
able signs of sadness. 

She scarcely heeded the opening door, until two pretty children 
came bounding to her side, clambering onto her chair and lap. 

Then her face changed, and a sweet, tender smile chased away all 
gloom; the idle hands were busy now stroking the curly heads pressed 
so close against her. 

“ I would have brought them to you before, but their father wished 
to keep them; he is always so happy when they are near,” a little, 
dark-eyed woman, clad in picturesque robes of brilliant crimson and 
gold, said rapidly, as she threw herself down on a pile of soft cushions 
opposite the sweet, pale mother. 

Lianor sighed, but she could not look sad long with those loved 
children clasped in her arms. 

“I cannot understand Manuel,” she said, with a puzzled expression 
in her eyes; “he is so strange, sometimes gay— almost too gay; then 
he relapses into a gloomy, brooding apathy, from which even the 
children have no power to rouse him. ” 

*“ But you have. He is never too morose to have a smile for you. 
I think, sometimes, he feels lonely. You are bound to him, yet your 
heart is as unresponsive to his passionate love as if you were strangers,” 
Savitre said, thoughtfully. 

“ Do you think so, Savitre? I am indeed sorry; but you knowhow 
impossible it is to forget my first love. I like Manuel, but beyond 
that, affection — except for my darlings — is dead; buried in Luiz’s 
grave. ” 

“Hush! here comes Manuel,” Savitre whispered, warningly. 

It was indeed Manuel, older and graver-looking than of yore, 
with a deep melancholy in his eyes, brought there only by intense 
suffering. 

Savitre, on his entrance, softly glided from the room, leaving hus- 
band and wife alone. 

Lianor,” he began, a bright smile lighting up his face as he bent 



WON BY CRIME. 


151 

'jo kiss her fair brow, “ I have been thinking, and am resolved to quit 
India and return to Portugal. I have been here long enough. Don’t 
you think that will be pleasant, dearest?” 

“ Nothing would please me more,” Lianor cried, delightedly. “ The 
greatest wish of my life is to see Portugal once more, to show our 
country to our children,” bending to kiss her tiny daughter’s face. 

“ Then it will be granted. Prepare to start as soon as possible. 
Now, I am determined to leave here. Something seems to urge me 
to go at once. ” 

Only too anxious, Lianor began her arrangements. 

Savitre, who had never cared to leave her friend before, even to 
become Panteleone’s bride, entered into the preparations with uncon¬ 
cealed eagerness. 

She had faithfully promised her lover that, once in Portugal, she 
would, with his father’s approval, marry him. 

Lianor felt no regret at leaving India, except for a loved grave — 
her father’s — which she had so carefully tended. 

Not many daysiafter, Manuel Tonza, his wife, children, Panteleone, 
and Savitre, accompanied by several faithful servants, including Lalli 
and Tolla, embarked in a fine stately ship, which was to bear them in 
safety to their home. 

Tonza seemed full of joy as he saw the last lines of the Indian coast 
disappear. He had rarely appeared so happy since his marriage with 
Lianor five years before. 

For several days the good ship went steadily on her way, until one 
night a terrific storm arose, and the vessel, heedless of the human 
cargo it was bearing, drifted onward at the mercy of the tempest. 

Tonza, holding Lianor and his children closely to him, stood silently 
dismayed, scarcely able to realize the awful danger which lay before 
him and those he loved. 

Still onward, through the almost impenetrable darkness, went the 
doomed ship, until, as the dense shadows began to clear and the 
storm to cease, a sudden shock was felt by all — she had struck against 
some rocks and was slowly sinking! 

“ We must be somewhere near land,” the captain cried, his voice 
sounding above the roaring waters. 

By aid of the fast-breaking dawn, they could see the line of high, 
dark rocks, upon which the ship had met her fate. 

With much difficulty and peril,, under the captain’s cool directions* 
the crew managed at last to leave the sinking vessel, not without much 
loss of life. Out of nearly five hundred only a few arrived in safety, 
amongst whom were Tonza, his wife, children, Savitre, and Pante¬ 
leone. 


I 52 


WON BY GRIME. 


When tVie day broke in calm splendor, the sun shown upon a mourn¬ 
ful sight —a group of shipwrecked men and women. 

No sign of habitation met their view; only a weary waste of bare 
land, sheltered by a few trees, from whose branches hung a goodly 
supply of fruit. 


“If we go farther inland, we are sure to find some natives, if only 
savages,” Tonza remarked gravely; and followed by the men, he com¬ 
menced the long, weary way. 

Lianor, pale but firm, holding in her arms her little daughter, 
walked beside him, heedless of the fatigue which oppressed her and 
made her long to sink upon the sandy ground to rest. 

Onward they went, never pausing to rest their tired feet until, as 
the day was (..about x to decline, they came to a deep waterfall, over 
which they had to cross. No easy task, as the only means of doing so 
was by an uneven path, made from a line of rocks, on either side of 
which the boiling waters poured in terrific fury. 

Tonza — who, now the captain had perished, placed himself at the 
Jlead of the crew — was the first 'to put his foot upon the crossing; 
then, turning to the people, he said: 

“ Be careful, and not glance behind or down, or you will lose your 
balance and fall. ” 

Lianor, who, by her husband’s wish, had given her child to one of 
the men, followed closely behind Manuel, who held his boy in his 
arms. 

Silently, without daring to murmur one word, the men walked 
bravely onward. 

They were nearly half way across. 

Manuel had indeed touched firm ground, when a sudden cry from 
her little girl made Lianor turn in affright to see what ailed her. 

That move was fatal; the next instant she had lost her footing and 
fallen into the dashing torrent. 

With a despairing shriek Manuel stopped, and had not some one 
held him back, would have dashed in after his wife. Panteleone, who 
saw a chance of saving her, quickly slipped over the side, caught her 
in his arms as she was about to sink, then bore her to land. 

Forgetful of all others, Manuel threw himself beside her still form, 
from which all life seemed to have fled, calling wildly on her name, 
pressing passionate kisses on her cold face, hoping by the warmth of 
his caresses to bring back the color to her cheeks. 


But it was useless; Lianor was dead; her head having struck against 


a. rock, caused instant unconsciousness, from which they coulc 
rouse her. 


not 



WON BY CRIME. 153 

When Tonza realized the awful truth he rose to his feet, pale and 
haggard, his eyes full of despairing anguish. 

“It is just; my sin is punished. My wife, the only thing I loved 
on earth, for whose sake I committed crime, is taken from me! She 
alone had power to make me happy; without her I cannot live. It is 
time I confessed all, and you shall be my judges. It was I who 
caused the death of Luiz Falcam, that I might win his betrothed; and 
when I heard that Diniz Sampayo had discovered partly the truth, I 
had him thrown into prison on suspicion of having stolen the very 
poignard with which Luiz had met his death — one that I myself had 
placed in the assassin’s hand l You all know how he escaped, but he 
is an exile for my fault. If ever you should see him, tell him his inno¬ 
cence is established; he can return to India in peace. You have 
heard my story, now judge me; ” and with arms crossed over his 
breast, his head bowed in deepest grief and humility, he waited his 
sentence. 

A dead hush fell over the group, broken only by the suppressed sobs 
of Savitre, who was crouching beside Lianor, and the pitiful moans of 
the little girl dying in one of the rough seamen’s arms. 

At last Pantaleone, a look of compassion on,his face, went towards 
his friend, and, laying his head on Tonza’s shoulder, said gently : 

“ My cousin, you have sinned, but God has sent your punishment; 
that is sufficient. Live to devote your life to bringing up the little 
motherless children left to you. Restore Sampayo to his own again; 
then try, by true repentance, to atone for the wrong you did him.” 

Tonza raised his head, and glanced gratefully at Panteleone; but 
his eyes were full of firm resolution none could understand. 

“You are good, but my life is worth nothing, now she has gone. 
See, this poor babe will soon follow her mother. Garcia I leave to 
you; he is too young to realize his loss; but never let him know his 
father’s sin!” he exclaimed hoarsely; and, after pressing his boy 
tightly to his breast, kissed the dying child; then softly lifting Lianor 
in his arms, he first pressed his lips reverently on her pale brow, and, 
before any one could prevent him, or realize what he was about to do, 
he had sprang from the rock into the deep torrent, and disappeared 
with his precious burden from their view. 

A cry of horror burst from the lips of all present, and many efforts 
were made to find their bodies; but in vain. 

With saddened hearts the;people turned away, and continued their 
journey, praying they might ere long find help and shelter 

Before the day had closed another soul had winged its flight to 
Heaven, and the tiny waxen form of Lianor’s baby-girl left in its last 
resting-place in the golden sand. 


154 


WON BY CRIME. 


A small wooden house, surrounded by sweet-scented flowers or 
brightest hue, amongst which a beautiful, dark-eyed woman was softly 
gliding, culling large clusters of the delicate blossoms. 

As she stopped to gather a few rich carnations, singing in a low, 
musical voice, a man, young and handsome, slipped from beneath the 
pretty porch, and walking noiselessly behind her, suddenly lifted her 
in his strong arms, pressing the slight form tenderly to his breast. 

“Take care, Diniz,” she cried, warningly, a ring of deepest joy 
thrilling her clear voice. “ You will spoil all my flowers! ” 

“Except the fairest of all—yourself. Ah, Miriam, my darling! how 
happy we have been since that day when you so generously saved me 
from a felon’s doom! ” rapturously kissing the beautiful, dark face so 
near his own. 

Their bliss was broken by a crowd of brown-skinned people, moving 
toward the cottage, seemingly acting under some emotion. 

“ What has happened? What is it? ” husband and wife cried simul¬ 
taneously. 

“We have seen a party of white men, doubtlessly shipwrecked on 
the coast, coming in this direction. They are even now in sight, one 
man said quickly, 

Diniz flushed, and his eyes grew bright with suppressed joy. 

“ Perhaps some of our countryman, Miriam. Let us hasten forward 
to welcome them,” he cried eagerly; and leading his wife, while the 
crowd followed curiously behind, Sampayo hurried in the direction 
from whence the strangers were coming. 

It was not long before they met the tired crew, now dwindled to 
about twenty, many having perished on the way. 

As Diniz stepped towards the first stranger, on wnose arm leaned 
a young and beautiful woman, a low cry burst from his lips. 

“ Panteleone! ” he gasped, “ is it really you?” 

“ What, Diniz! ” and the two friends, separated for so long a time, 
warmly clasped hands. 

“ But how comes it that you are like this? ” 

Panteleone briefly related their voyage from India, and the disastrous 
end. Tears shone in his eyes when he recounted the sad death of 
Lianor and her husband. 

Poor, poor girl! How sorry I am!” Diniz said mournfully, while 
Miriam, scarcely able to repress her sobs, drew Lianor’s orphan boy 
in her arms, and bore him to their pretty home. 

“You are welcome—all!” Sampayo said gently, turning to the 
Iwpgard-looking seamen. “ Come. ” 

v A few days later a grand old ship, bound for Portugal, started 


WON BY CRIME. 155 

from that coast, bearing the wrecked crew to their former destina¬ 
tion. 

Amongst those on board were Diniz and his wife (Phenee had long 
since joined his forefathers), who, now his innocence was made known, 
had no longer the fear of being imprisoned, and could return in safety 
to his native land. 

Panteleone’s father received Savitre with almost paternal love, and 
some months after their arrival, when their mourning for poor l^ianor 
was lessened, the two faithful hearts became one. 

Little Garcia, Tonza’s son, was tenderly nurtured in their tranqui 
home, and the aunt he loved so dearly became a second mother, 
replacing the one he had lost. 

No shadow of his father’s sin darkened his young life; he lived un¬ 
conscious of the sad fate of his mother, who, won by crime, by her 
death avenged Luiz Falcam, for, through her, Manuel Tonza had 
atoned for all. 








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